Justice-Involved Services

Elevating healthcare and quality standards in justice-involved settings.

HMA’s justice-involved services team is uniquely qualified to help you deliver optimal care for the justice-involved population. Our correctional healthcare experts include clinicians, mental health professionals, program administrators and former correctional leaders, all with in-depth experience in their field. Every day, we’re helping clients across the nation make the most of carceral health opportunities emerging from local legislation and federal health reform. No team is better equipped to help you design, deliver, and manage high-quality, affordable correctional healthcare services.

From prevention to post-release, we’ll be your guide.

HMA provides services for all stages of justice-involved care:

  • Public Safety and Crisis Diversion: Programs and projects aimed at keeping people out of the justice system by creating systems of specialized response to meet medical, mental health, and substance use disorder (SUD) needs.
  • In Custody: Providing care and programming to ensure quality medical and behavioral health supports are prioritized in jails and prisons.
  • Upon Release/Return to Community: Transition of care beyond jails and prisons, including continuation of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT).
  • Quality Science: Efforts focused on the prevention of adverse events, suboptimal care, ineffective treatments, inefficient processes, and unnecessary clinical variation.
  • Special Populations: Specialized approaches and expertise to meet the needs of all people in the justice system.
What Drives Us

Jail Substance Use, Medicaid and Re-entry Assessment Tool

Specific services include:

Operations, Contract and Relationship Management

  • HEDIS improvement strategies
  • Medicare Star Rating maximization
  • Aligning quality Medicare STAR and risk analytics to save costs
  • HEDIS roadmap support and development
  • Preparation and analysis of mergers for health system acquisition of carceral healthcare  
  • Contract compliance, risk management, and quality improvement review
  • On and off-site service contract review
  • Analysis of reimbursement arrangements, pharmacy practices, utilization, and cost data
  • Planning and implementation of Department of Justice strategic responses
  • Optimization of Medicaid and payer coordination 
  • Community partnerships
  • Vendor service contracts

Population-Specific Services

  • Behavioral health expertise
  • Crisis intervention and diversion
  • 988 planning and implementation 
  • Guidance to address SUD within the justice system
  • MAT implementation efforts including licensing for providers
  • Tailored guidance and direction for juvenile justice providers and partners
  • Direction of public health systems to establish structures for community benefit
  • Assessment tool for county jails to determine readiness for a MAT or medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) program

Quality & Accreditation

  • Focus on continuum of care, including NCQA, PCMH, and PCSP accreditation
  • Assistance in achieving and maintaining accreditation with ACA, NCCHC, JCAHO
  • Standards and patient safety protections
  • Quality improvement for jails and prisons

Staffing and Workforce Development

  • Partnering with clinicians to improve accessibility and provision of care
  • Training and leadership in trauma informed care
  • Filling interim leadership roles with experienced clinicians and operations experts
  • Review and improvement of COVID-19 protocols and procedures
  • Appraisal of healthcare practice efficiency and effectiveness
  • Staffing models by service line and/or program

Our experienced team provides in-depth technical assistance and individualized program development expertise in every service area, every step of the way.

Meet some of our justice-involved services experts.

Our team knows the correctional healthcare space inside and out. And that knowledge can help you make better decisions—and achieve better outcomes.

If you’re involved in justice-involved care, we can help you.

HMA knows healthcare in and around the justice system extends to a wide range of provider types and partners—and we have helped them all.

Our clients and partners have included:

  • Health systems
  • Clinical service providers
  • Sheriff offices
  • State correctional systems
  • Law enforcement, parole/probation teams
  • Foundations
  • Non-profit organizations
  • Public health departments, state and local
  • Federal government agencies and programs

We understand no two projects are the same. Our extensive experience gives us the know-how and industry-leading advantage to approach each project and client with confidence, and tailor solutions to meet your specific needs.

Justice-Involved Project Examples

Here are just a few of the clients we’ve assisted with justice-involved services.

California Department of Health Care Services: MAT in County Criminal Justice Learning Collaborative

HMA has provided ongoing technical assistance and guidance to county teams involved in learning collaboratives to expand access to MAT in jails and drug courts as part of the Criminal Justice Learning Collaborative. Teams from 29 California counties participated, and thousands of detainees received MAT throughout incarceration and upon release. This statewide approach is especially effective because the teams quickly learn from one another and regional and statewide barriers are swiftly identified and addressed, so the state prison system could simultaneously develop compatible MAT approaches. HMA project coaches facilitated in-person learning collaboratives, conducted monthly coaching calls, helped teams customize approaches to their unique jails and health care systems, and provided topic-specific webinars, podcasts, and ongoing technical assistance. This program has been replicated and expanded in multiple states and counties across the country.

California Department of Health Care Services: Opioid Ecosystems of Care

A comprehensive, county-focused effort aimed at strengthening the overall addiction treatment ecosystem in 10 counties, the Opioid Ecosystems of Care project, provided process improvement work, technical assistance, and direct coaching through a multi-pronged approach. HMA convened county SUD stakeholders in two-day events for addiction treatment didactics, identification of system gaps and barriers, and consensus on a road map designed to improve the future of the treatment system. After providing technical assistance, the team continued work for one year to address the gaps and barriers and conduct direct coaching to increase the number of buprenorphine quick- start sites. Through this program’s activities, HMA built a consistent knowledge base in order to provide high-touch, evidence-based MAT and behavioral therapies for SUD patients. A website of opioid addiction treatment resources, including a robust data dashboard with county-level SUD data in the state has also been developed.

Delaware Community Response Teams (CRT) and Action Plan

In order to prepare for, and respond to, sentinel overdose events in targeted counties in the state, HMA helped develop the CRT Development and Action Plan. HMA guided the project by recruiting key stakeholders, establishing structure and developing an action plan for each county, which was selected by using overdose activity data from first responders. Teams developed tools and templates to ensure all partners use the same materials and messages in the response. The CRTs will take collective action in specific areas including naloxone distribution, focusing on not only deployment of the drug during sentinel events, but also education in advance of an event to ensure the public is aware of its availability and ensure its rapid distribution. HMA provided hands-on training, including naloxone train-the trainer education, capacity building, overdose prevention, and stigma reducing measures for the CRT stakeholders. During the COVID-19 state of emergency, naloxone distribution was modified to include car-side distribution, and CRT teams are provided overdose education and naloxone distribution to homeless individuals temporarily housed in hotels.

Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC): Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of OUD Treatment Program

Through system mapping and assessment of current readiness, HMA has tackled OUD in jails by providing technical assistance to MDOC in planning and implementing the comprehensive OUD treatment program. HMA provided training and education for MDOC leadership, facilities, and healthcare staff, including Data Waiver training for contracted physicians and prescribers. The team also provided ongoing coaching, program evaluation and technical assistance to ensure quality improvement. Working alongside designated staff, HMA provided train-the trainer education and led strategic planning and goal setting to establish goals, priorities, plans and timelines for implementation.

Learning Collaboratives to Improve Access to Care for Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT)

Project ECHO is a virtual case-based learning model created at the University of New Mexico as an innovative approach to adult learning. The model has been proven to increase the knowledge and quality of practice of the participating clinical teams. HMA has an affiliation agreement with the University of New Mexico to deliver Project ECHO sessions focusing on behavioral health and MAT programs both in community and criminal justice settings.

HMA partnered with both Baltimore/Washington High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) and separately with Tulane University to deliver Project ECHO sessions specifically for jails, prisons, and drug courts to support their MAT programs. HMA is also contracted with the Delaware Department of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH) to host a Project ECHO clinic for community providers offering MAT. Pre- and post-practice-level assessments reflect progress along the continuum.

HMA consultants are professional and hard working. They are constantly trying to add value wherever they can. Absolutely outstanding across the board.

– Current HMA Client

Justice involved services insights

Opportunities for local and regional managed care organizations with justice-involved services

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Preventing Type 2 Diabetes in correctional settings

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CalAIM Justice-Involved Reentry Initiative Planning and Implementation Services

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Resources for Medicaid 1115 Waivers: creating new programs for justice-involved individuals

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HMA publishes white paper, “Implementing the National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Change Program in Correctional Settings”

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Webinar replay: Medicaid 1115 justice waivers and special populations: meeting the needs of justice-involved youth

This webinar was held on August 17, 2023.  HMA’s webinar series, 1115 Medicaid Justice Demonstration Waivers: Bridging Healthcare, focused on …

Webinar replay: Medicaid 1115 justice waiver opportunities- medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder in carceral settings

This webinar was held on July 13, 2023. HMA’s webinar series, 1115 Medicaid Justice Demonstration Waivers: Bridging Healthcare, focuses on …

Webinar replay: connecting community partners to improve transitions of care

This webinar was held on June 15, 2023. HMA’s webinar series, 1115 Medicaid Justice Demonstration Waivers: Bridging Healthcare, focused on …

HMA annual conference on innovations in publicly sponsored healthcare

Innovations in Publicly Sponsored Healthcare: How Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplaces Are Driving Value, Equity, and Growth Pre-Conference Workshop: October 29, …

New experts join HMA in April 2023

HMA is pleased to welcome new experts to our family of companies in April 2023. Jed Abell – Consulting ActuaryWakely …

Ready to talk to an expert about your justice-involved services project?

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