WITNESS
David S. Kountz, M.D., has served as Medical Director at the Somerset County Jail, a 230-bed maximum security facility in Somerville, New Jersey, since 1998. Dr. Kountz holds several positions at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, including Associate Dean for Postgraduate Education; Associate Professor of Medicine; and Chief of the Division of Primary Care, Department of Medicine. Dr. Kountz is also the Medical Director at the Robert Wood Johnson - University Medical Group, the faculty practice at the Medical School. In addition, he serves as Chief of Primary Care Services at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. He has been a funded-investigator by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 1998.
Dr. Kountz is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a certified correctional healthcare professional, and a member of the Society of Correctional Physicians. In 2000, Dr. Kountz received the Francis Black Humanitarian Award in Healthcare from the Friends' Health Connection, and delivered the keynote address for White Coat Ceremony at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. In 2002, he received an Award of Honor from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital for community service. Dr. Kountz attended Princeton University and medical school at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
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STATEMENT
Several correctional centers — such as Hampden County Correctional Center in Massachusetts — have been effective in putting public health services into practice in jail settings. Their model includes not only early detection and a comprehensive assessment of health problems, treatment, disease prevention programs, and health education, but also continuity of care in the community with collaboration between the County Health Services Department, community health centers, and other local health care providers.
Could we develop such a model in Somerset County or in the other counties in our state where jails are present? If so, who would staff such health centers? Are local providers really "out there" who are willing to accept inmates as patients? These are all practical problems, and ones that I have faced in the last 7 years.… Most jail populations are extremely transient. The expectation that inmates will follow up in a local community is, I believe, unrealistic. When we request release of medical records from our inmates to verify prior treatment and current medications, they are addressed across the state and beyond. Local physicians are often anxious about having inmates as patients, not just from the standpoint of image to their other patients, but also related to reimbursement concerns.
… let me speculate on the future, and the role of medical schools to potentially advance the cause of improving care in jails. There are an increasing number of medical schools partnering with state departments of corrections to provide or oversee all or part of correctional health care.… As schools develop "Correctional Health Institutes" or "Departments of Correctional Health," there will be a framework for expanding this mission to local jails.
Excerpted from a written statement submitted to the Commission
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