Codington County Approves Electronic Medical Records for Watertown, SD Jail

Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - The Codington County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of an electronic medical records (EMR) software system for the Codington County Detention Center during its meeting Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026.

Following a motion by Commissioner Tyler McElhany and a second by Commissioner Randy Schweer, the board voted to approve the budgeted software purchase from DetainEMR, powered by Advanced Inmate Medical Management, LLC.

According to the quote presented to the board, the Year 1 total cost is $16,867.80, which includes a one-time implementation fee of $8,845.30 covering travel expenses, wages, and web interface setup, along with an initial annual software fee of $8,022.50 based on an average daily population of 50 inmates at a $0.33 per diem rate.

In Year 2, the recurring annual cost will be $8,423.63, reflecting a 5% Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment. The agreement includes unlimited online EMR training, unlimited user accounts, help desk troubleshooting, and automatic software updates.

Transition from Handwritten Paper Files

Sheriff Brad Howell told commissioners that all inmate medical records at the detention center are currently handwritten and stored in downstairs file cabinets, where they must be retained for 10 years.

“This will streamline the system when our nurse is trying to talk to other—you know, Sanford, the hospitals, to any other clinics—that they can just email or send through the system here the medical records back and forth and help keep them all contained,” Howell said.

Howell added that digitizing the records will save paper and staff time so jail personnel and nursing staff no longer have to retrieve physical files from downstairs storage, send them to doctors, and print returned records for manual filing. Howell noted the sheriff’s office had researched the software for the past one-and-a-half to two years and included it in the current budget after exploring whether grant funding might be available.

Rising Operational Costs and Out-of-County Prisoner Contracts

During discussion on the motion, commissioners noted the recurring expense of maintaining detention center operations and medical software, particularly in light of feedback from neighboring counties that contract with Codington County to house inmates.

“We have a little bit of pushback when we raise the price, but that’s what the money’s for as far as situations like this, because it’s very expensive to operate all of these facilities,” a commissioner said during the discussion. “And if they’re listening now or right now, I hope that they take notice that it costs a lot of money to operate these facilities. And this is just the software for those that need health care. And that’s a lot of money, and it’s recurring every year.”