Cermak Health Services provides healthcare to detainees in the Cook County Jail. It has faced issues like losing accreditation and lawsuits around patient safety. Richard Blackwell leads a process improvement effort using Six Sigma methods to automate medication administration using a new electronic system. This aims to ensure the "five rights" of medication and address issues like a fragmented current process, security concerns, and the challenges of a jail healthcare environment. Change management is key to transitioning the organization through this large-scale process change.
1976 Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right to health care. Estelle vs. Gamble “We therefore conclude that deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain proscribed by the 8 th amendment.” Rights established by the Supreme Court include Right of access to care Right to professional medical judgment AMA and APHA reviewed conditions in prisons and jails NCCHC developed minimum standards for health care services NCCHC accreditation process
So began correctional health – a public health opportunity
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