Prison Health Care Provider Defends Services
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The national company that has been replaced as the health care provider to Minnesota's 9,000 prison inmates is defending its services.
Corizon Health says the state Department of Corrections has thanked the company for "exceptional service over the last 16 years."
DOC severed ties with Corizon following staff complaints of substandard care and legal action against the company. Corizon was replaced by St. Louis-based Centurion Managed Care, a Fortune 500 health care company that manages medical care under public contracts in several states.
A 2012 Star Tribune investigation found that at least nine Minnesota inmates had died since 2000 due to denial or delay of care while Corizon was the state's prison medical contractor. More than 20 had suffered serious or critical injuries during that period, the newspaper's investigation found.
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