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A Prospective Examination of High-cost Health Services Utilization among Drug using Prisoners Reentering the Community

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Abstract

The use of health services by prisoners during their incarceration and after their return to the community impacts the U.S. health care system and health care costs associated with this system. These health care costs are expected to increase over the next decade as more prisoners return to their communities. The current study prospectively examines the use of high-cost health care services—emergency room visits and hospitalizations—among 565 male drug-abusing prisoners about 1 year after prison release. A series of structural equation models were used to examine predisposing factors, including health status and drug use, and to estimate the frequency of high-cost health service utilization. As expected, health status was the most robust predictor of high-cost health services. However, the finding that drug abuse had nonsignificant relationships with high-cost health services utilization was not expected. Discussion focuses on health care service issues and health problems as prisoners’ transition from prison to the community.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grant R01 DA11309 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse; Carl G. Leukefeld, Principal Investigator; and by the staff and resources of the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research at the University of Kentucky. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the position of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor and Director, Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, 643 Maxwelton Court, Lexington, KY, 40506-0350, USA

    Carl G. Leukefeld DSW

Authors
  1. Carl G. Leukefeld DSW
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  2. Matthew L. Hiller PhD
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  3. J. Matthew Webster PhD
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  4. Michele Staton Tindall PhD
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  5. Steven S. Martin MSc
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  6. Jamieson Duvall MS
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  7. Valerie E. Tolbert PhD
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  8. Thomas F. Garrity PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carl G. Leukefeld DSW.

Additional information

Matthew L. Hiller, PhD, is an assistant professor at Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University, 5th Floor, Gladfelter Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122.

J. Matthew Webster, PhD, is an assistant professsor at University of Kentucky, Department of Behavioral Science, 643 Maxwelton Court, Lexington, KY 40506-0350.

Michele Staton Tindall, PhD, is a study director at Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, University of Kentucky, 643 Maxwelton Court, Lexington, KY 40506-0350.

Steven S. Martin, MSc, is a senior research scientist at Center on Drug and Alcohol Studies, University of Delaware, 77 E. Main St., Newark, DE 19711.

Jamieson Duvall, MS, is a graduate research assistant at Center on Drug and Alcohol Research and a chair at Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, 643 Maxwelton Court, Lexington, KY 40506-0350.

Thomas F. Garrity, PhD, is a professor at Department of Behavioral Science, Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, 120 College of Medicine Office Building, Lexington, KY 40536-0086.

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Leukefeld, C.G., Hiller, M.L., Webster, J.M. et al. A Prospective Examination of High-cost Health Services Utilization among Drug using Prisoners Reentering the Community. JBHSR 33, 73–85 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-005-9006-y

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