At today’s meeting of the Brown County Commissioners Court, Sheriff Vance Hill presented a recommendation for a new provider of prescription drugs for County Jail inmates.

Since 2014 the County has had a contract with Integrated Prescription Management of California to manage the purchase and delivery of prescription drugs, and monitor the pricing.  In April Dr. John D. Dunn, former Brown County Health Officer, appeared before the Commissioners and argued that IPM was over-charging the County for the prescriptions.  (That story can be read here:  https://www.brownwoodnews.com/2023/04/10/commissioners-addressed-over-high-cost-of-prescriptions-to-county-jail/)

Sheriff Hill said he has researched other prescription management services, and he recommends that the County switch to Diamond Pharmacy Services, from Pennsylvania.  According to Hill, they did a price comparison for the two most recent months (June and July 2023) and said that their program would have saved the County about $500 over those two months.  While that can vary from month to month, Hill said the County would save several thousand dollars over the course of a year.  Also, Diamond Pharmacy Services would buy back from the County any unused drugs, providing an additional 12% savings.  And Diamond will provide software to track the distribution of prescription drugs to inmates, saving many hours of paperwork labor.

The Commissioners took no action today.  They and County Attorney Jennifer Broughton will study the proposed contract, and take up the proposal again in the September 5 meeting.

In other business:

*** Commissioners approved a request from Sheriff Hill to install twelve more surveillance cameras in the County Jail, at a cost of $15,910.  The cameras will be paid for with money from the inmate commissary fund.  Hill said this will bring the total number of cameras in the jail to about one hundred.

*** Approved a plat for the Zephyr Retreat Estates, presented by Levi Craft.