MANSFIELD — Enhanced medical services at more than $1 million annually for Richland County Jail inmates apparently proved too expensive in 2024.
The Richland County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a one-year, $700,590 contract with Southern Health Partners that maintains services at largely the same level as available under Advanced Correctional Healthcare, which had been the provider for the last several years.
In January, Sheriff Steve Sheldon and Capt. Chris Blunk said they hoped to sign a contract that would provide “enhanced option” in the department’s next jail medical services contract, including the addition of a second Licensed Practical Nurse at the jail 24/7 (including holidays) and a “very comprehensive (drug/alcohol) treatment program” for inmates.
Southern Health Partners is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn.
However, once proposals were received from potential providers, those enhancements carried price tags of between $1.1 and $1.8 million annually, Blunk said Tuesday.
Advanced Correctional Healthcare had sought nearly $900,000 to renew its medical services contract with the county, prompting the sheriff and his staff to seek potential other providers.
The vote on Tuesday came after an executive session with Sheldon, Blunk, Maj. Joe Masi and Rachel Troyer, the county’s central services administrator.
In the end, Blunk said, the price tag was too high as commissioners approved a one-year contract with the option for three, one-year renewals. Each of the first two renewals would carry 4-percent increases in price.
The third year would be negotiable, according to Troyer.
“The cost was much higher,” Blunk said of the potentially enhanced services.
“We selected option one, which is not our enhanced option,” he said. “We will continue the current services that we currently have in the jail right now, which is 24/7 nursing — and a site supervisor, not included in that nursing.”
(Below is a copy of the 44-page medical services contract for the Richland County Jail approved by county commissioners on Tuesday.)
He said the service would not include a medically-assisted drug and alcohol treatment program for inmates.
“I am still going to be looking for grants and other resources to provide that (medically-assisted treatment) program,” Blunk said.
When commissioners approved the RCSO budget for 2024, it allotted $760,850 for medical services.
Blunk said the new provider doesn’t offer the same staff training ACH provided.
“We will have to use a platform for that training on our own,” he said. “It was only about 16 hours per year.
“Another difference is the (correctional) office wellness program, that they don’t offer. Those are the only two things that stood out to me.”