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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 73-85 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information: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.
Funding
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.
Funders | Funder number |
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Center for Drug and Alcohol Research | |
National Institute on Drug Abuse | R01DA011309 |
University of Kentucky |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Health Policy
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health