Southern Health Partners

Southern Health Partners provides medical, dental, and mental health services to inmates in small and medium-sized county jail facilities. We tailor our programs to the size of the facility and the desires of the jail managers and the various county government officials. Our programs are personalized after careful attention to the needs of each facility. We consider the need to retain current nursing staff and recruit locally where possible.

Mission Statement

To grow, through our experience, relationships, and reputation, and continue as the leader in providing affordable inmate health care to county jails.

History

Southern Health Partners, Inc. (SHP) was founded in 1994 for the purpose of providing medical care to inmates in jails that were classified as either small or medium size by the American Correctional Association (ACA). Currently our target market is that list of jails and detention centers in the size range up to 500 beds located in the twelve states of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Current contracts include some jails with more than 500 inmates.

Prior to SHP's founding there was no provider of medical services to small and medium size jails that was visible and available to contract in the group of states we targeted. Only regional markets within certain states were being marketed by others.

While SHP's principal owners were employed by America Service Group, Inc. (parent company of Prison Health Services, Inc.) we identified the need in the marketplace for a model of medical care delivery that would fit in the smaller jails in the Southeastern States. There is a much higher concentration of jails in the 25 to 500 bed size range in these states. The challenge for the new company was to find a way to promote and employ a safe and effective program while having nursing staff in the facility on a limited basis, and certainly less than the 24-hour nursing models being used by the large providers.

The owners and senior managers of Southern Health Partners have developed many successful program models and we are proud to have met the real needs of jails for this health care service. Our programs are the models that others are copying or mimicking now. The first SHP contract, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, was won through a competitive bidding process in 1994. SHP participated in a re-bid after the first four years and we retain the contract at present.