Thursday, April 03, 2008  On the sunny side of the street: Is it
time for an independent evaluation of 'telemedicine'?  Since
I've posted quite a bit of critical material about healthcare in
Texas prisons over the years, I thought it only fair to share
what Correctional Managed Health Care E.D. Alan Hightower told
the Senate Criminal Justice Committee yesterday are the three
most important improvements at TDCJ healthcare since UTMB and
Texas Tech took over the system. I personally learned quite a
bit from the discussion.  First, the main benefit from operating
the prison health system through UTMB appears to be reduced drug
pricing. Because UTMB is a state hospital that does indigent
healthcare, it qualifies for "340B drug pricing," which
dramatically lowers its pharmacy costs. As mentioned earlier,
48% of TDCJ's pharmacy costs go for inmates with HIV. (As an
aside, the committee was informed that "Big Pharma" is lobbying
Congress right now to end reduced 340B pricing, so it's not
inevitable those reduced pri