Okla. Stat. tit. 57, § 57-627

Contracts - Emergencies - Security - Costs.

A. It shall be the responsibility of the Department of

Corrections to provide such medical and surgical inpatient and

outpatient care as may be required by inmates of the Department of

Corrections. The Department may refer to the Oklahoma University

Medical Center, and the Oklahoma University Medical Center shall

accept, those inmates who need services, as determined by the

Department of Corrections to be beyond the professional capabilities

of the Department of Corrections.

B. The Department of Corrections may also contract with

providers of general inpatient hospital services. Any such provider

shall be a hospital as defined in Section 1-701 of Title 63 of the

Oklahoma Statutes. The Department of Corrections may also contract

with physicians and other providers of inpatient and outpatient

health care services, equipment and health care related products as

may be necessary for the delivery of health care which is beyond the

professional capabilities of the Department of Corrections.

C. When the Department of Corrections determines the medical

necessity for urgent hospitalization of an inmate, an appropriate

inpatient hospital in close proximity to the correctional facility

shall be used for emergency care and stabilization. The Department

of Corrections is authorized to develop a network of inpatient

hospitals, physicians and other inpatient and outpatient medical

providers that are capable of providing necessary health care

services, equipment and other health care related products. Those

hospitals, physicians and other inpatient and outpatient providers

of health care services and products that are in the network

established by the Department of Corrections in conjunction with the

Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board shall

be reimbursed according to the current fee schedule established for

that network. Hospitals and inpatient and outpatient providers that

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 57. Prisons and Reformatories Page 276

are out-of-network shall be reimbursed according to the current

Oklahoma Medicaid fee schedule.

D. The Department of Corrections shall be responsible for

transporting to, from, and between hospitals and for providing such

physical security of inmate consumers as may be required beyond that

security normal to hospital operation. The Department of

Corrections shall immediately remove from the hospital those inmate

consumers when discharged by the hospital.

E. The hospital services provided by the Oklahoma University

Medical Center shall be without cost to the Department of

Corrections.