Horry County Council approved a resolution Tuesday night to privatize medical, dental, and mental health services for inmates at J. Reuben Long Detention Center.
Jail Director Tom Fox says they treat about 14,000 inmates a year.
Of 600 inmates housed daily at J. Rueben Long, 33 to 35 percent regularly receive medical attention.
Right now, the medical services are handled at the detention center. A staff of nurses and medical professionals, such as lab technicians, work as employees of the jail. The jail contracts out a doctor. In addition, weekly mental services and as needed dental services are contracted out.
All of those are paid for by county tax dollars.
The county is considering whether to privatize medical, dental, and mental health services through one private company.
Fox says there would be a savings of about $75,000 a year on associated costs with the proposed privatization.
"That is $5,600 a day on medical expenses or $233 an hour cost right now ," Horry County Sheriff Phillip E. Thompson told council Tuesday night.
Thompson added that change would result in more than a quarter of a million dollars of savings a year.
Right now, 22 employees are employed through the county jail in the medical department. Fox says they will have the opportunity to reapply for their jobs with the private company. He says they have currently been working with Southern Health Partners, a company Fox says is in the "jail health business." Southern Health Partners could take over by October 1st.
