State to switch some inmates from state paid care to Medicaid

Department of Corrections officials say they will save thousands in medical costs by switching eligible inmates from state paid care to Medicaid.

The plan was approved Tuesday by the Board of Examiners, instructing Medicaid managers, the welfare division and corrections to start up the program.

Deb Reed of corrections said they did a study looking back six months and found that if the program had been in place July 1, the state could have saved about $350,000 through Dec. 31.

Charles Duarte, who runs the state's Medicaid program, said that for eligible inmates, medical services at Medicaid rates are much lower than costs through corrections. He said they expect to cut the $1.2 million General Fund costs of those services down to about $315,000.

Reed said that as a result, corrections and Duarte's office are looking into additional opportunities to shift come costs from the prison system - which is supported almost entirely by the General Fund - to Medicaid and other federal programs.

Gov. Brian Sandoval praised the plan as the type of creative money saving ideas that are "the essence of what we're trying to do here."

In other action, the board, which consists of the governor, Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto:

• Approved contracts expanding the state's tourism effort in Germany and adding new contracts to piggy-back on tourism programs run by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority in Australia, Brazil, France and South Korea.

• Accepted the donation of two parcels of land adjacent to the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area near Yerington. The land was donated by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. According to support documentation, the Walker River flows through one parcel, which will expand public access to the river. The parcels total 791 acres.

• Approved a $588,830 refund to Nevada mining companies to true up their prepaid net proceeds taxes with their actual monthly tax payment owed. Mining pays its taxes to the state in advance based on estimates of how much mineral wealth they will extract. That payment brings the total refunded to mining companies to $14.9 million.