First State Times

The head of Delaware's prisons is defending state operations after a new Christina Care Health System report blasted the system as “plagued by poor communications, little accountability and a lack of data collection analysis.”

In categorizing the areas where improvements are said to be needed as a “manageable challenge, Department of Corrections Commissioner Claire DeMatteis added, “We need to update how we do business in delivering health care. We used to do much more auditing of our health care vendor and our outcomes and our patients’ safety and quality, and we have to get back to that.”

The independent review of both medical and behavioral operations in state prisons also found that “functional governance” and “shared accountability” extending from Department of Correction leadership to prison facilities was “minimally apparent.”

Researchers also noted that the department was unable to point to any detailed plans for operations going forward and could not offer any evidence of meaningful collaboration between DOC’s health care bureau and its medical contractor, Connections Community Support Programs.

Still, DeMatteis, who was appointed DOC commissioner in June, insists all is well.

“I am confident that offenders are getting good health care in our correctional facilities,” she said. “What this report will do is help us make that better and hold our vendor accountable and hold us accountable to key quality assurance measures.”

DeMatteis stressed that other than the up to $5 million that will be needed to fix the DOC’s electronic health record system, none of the report's recommendations will require additional spending.