WASHINGTON CO. COMMISSIONERS APPROVE NEW JAIL MEDICAL SERVICES CONTRACT

  

Washington County Commissioners today (Thursday) approved a contract to bring in a new medical services provider at the county jail.

The contract with MedHealth will take effect on Monday, which led to the county having to work quickly to wrap up negotiations with the company after starting talks in late May.  The county has contracted with CorrHealth since 2021.

Through the contract, MedHealth provides a medical director at the jail and a nurse practitioner who works underneath the director.  The county provides the nursing staff, including a health services administrator, two correctional licensed vocational nurses, and an emergency medical technician. 

Pay rate assignments for the county’s jail medical staff will be approved at the court’s next meeting on Tuesday, a day after the contract goes into effect.  Human Resources Director Angela Mlcak said the county is hiring employees coming into the roles on a contingency basis, and that those new hires understand the rates listed in their offers may be lower if not approved by commissioners.

The cost of the contract is $276,186 over 12 months, plus a one-time startup payment of $25,000.  The initial term of the agreement will end on June 30, 2025, but it can be extended via one-year renewals. 

The quick turnaround time for the contract nearly proved problematic, as First Assistant County Attorney Kacie Murphy explained that MedHealth had sent over a version of the document this morning that corrected some errors, but commissioners did not receive it until shortly before the meeting and had not been able to review it.

Given the importance of the contract, Murphy recommended that commissioners take the time to make sure they understood everything in it.  Initially, commissioners considered waiting until Tuesday’s meeting to follow up, but Murphy said that would lead to Washington County EMS having to cover any medical calls at the jail on Monday.  County Judge John Durrenberger said he met with EMS Director Kevin Deramus about this matter, and he agreed to cover at the jail for two days if necessary.

Jail Chief Deputy Eric Hensley said the switchover from CorrHealth to MedHealth was intended to begin Sunday at midnight, with officials from MedHealth coming in to provide staff training.  He also said an inventory would be necessary to go through what CorrHealth is taking out and what MedHealth is bringing in, so he did not believe it would work to wait until Tuesday when several important tasks need to be done before then.

Ultimately, commissioners recessed the meeting to take an hour to look over the contract.  Upon returning, and after clearing up remaining questions, they voted 4-0 to approve the contract.  Commissioner Candice Bullock was absent. 

Commissioners also unanimously approved professional liability insurance, which is required now that the county is employing its own medical personnel at the jail. 

As for a contract with CorEMR for electronic jail medical records, commissioners tabled it until Tuesday’s meeting.  Murphy said the contract includes an indemnity provision that requires the county to indemnify the service provider, and the county typically does not recommend contracts with those provisions, but the clause cannot be removed without negotiating with CorEMR.

Hensley said the issue would have been more complicated had the jail medical contract not been approved, but now that the new employees will be able to come in and “hard copy everything” until the records contract is approved, this will just be “a small hiccup.”