Many improvements to operational efficiency and safety have been achieved with the opening of the new Surry County Detention Center, according to county officials.
One of the complaints inmates and their families had of the former jail surrounded the inability to get consistent medical care. The county opted to begin 24/7 medical care and Southern Health Partners has been the company of record.
On Monday the firm was awarded a new three-year contract to continue around the clock medical at the jail by the Surry County Board of Commissioners.
Their low bid of $694,020 was accepted and the new contract will begin on July 1. Scenic Health Management Services and Dr. Challie Minton, owner of Surry Rural Health Center, Scenic Urgent Care, and Scenic Pharmacy, had the second lowest bid of $952,248 followed by IMS Correctional Health at $970,000.
Two other bids from MEDIKO, Inc. and Wellpath, LLC were received featuring price tags including seven instead of six digits, $1.72 million and $2.93 million respectively, that were deemed too expensive by the selection committee.
Commissioner Larry Johnson said, “I see the process was done fairly and I appreciate those who helped grade these five companies. I thank them and I will go along with their recommendation.”
“Our personal desire was granted that if a local company had their desire to bid that they could, and they did, and it was done in a timely form,” he added.
Commissioner Bill Goins queried what the cost for inmate medical had been and Finance Officer Laura Neely estimated the costs for in-house medical care and bills for necessary hospitalizations at between $1.1 to $1.3 million.
Assistant Finance Officer Denise Brown said, “I’m not sure exactly what the price is but I know this is a 35% increase over what Southern Health Partners has done in the last contract with us.”
“I think it was about $600,000 for in-house medical care,” Chair Van Tucker said, “so, this is a 35% increase over their most current contract bid?”
Brown said that was the case, “Mostly because they did not hold us to a per diem rate. When we go over a certain number of inmates, and we were over that number for quite some time, and now with the new jail and the increase in the number of inmates the increase is pretty indicative.”
“Honestly, I’m actually pleased it was no more than it was. I was actually really surprised it was not more than it was, truthfully.”
“We had a snafu last year and then we had some issues (with Southern Health Partners), so, are we better than we were as far as billing, care, the whole nine yards?” Goins asked.
“Way, way better,” Brown said, “I’m going to say way better. Service wise now that we have adopted 24/7 medical care, which has helped and reduced our liability risk a lot.”
“They saved two lives over there in like the last month and a half and there’s been no worrying about them not being there. Their service quality is good, and they are making good decisions. I’m basing that on conversations with the sheriff’s office.”
Chief Deputy Larry Lowe said that from the Surry County Sheriff’s Office perspective, “We have nothing negative to say. If our jail administrator was here, he’d tell you the same thing. We’ve had conversations about this and it’s a 360-degree turnaround. Everything has been great.”
Brown went on to note that some of the issues with Southern had been with billing. “Financially taking them out of the financial piece has helped tremendously with payments because we only have one company involved in the scrubbing process and they also pay, so that’s a much faster process. Before, it was having to go through about three more hoops before it got back to us.”
Goins questioned the other bid that came in. “There is a big difference between number one and two, but not proposal two and three. Are we seeing apples to apples with these proposals?”
“What was asked for and what was priced were apples to apples,” Brown said. She offered a caveat though, “Scenic offered, at no charge, electronic records which is something we do not do now. To make sure we were being fair, I priced that and asked how much it would be, about $100,000. That still doesn’t make up for the price difference.”
“We looked at price, but that was not our determining factor. With inmate medical you want to save money, but you don’t want to save money where it’s going to be a high risk liability,” she explained.
The committee took into account years of experience in offering this type of care and the hours of staffing each was committed to. “So, we looked at all that, the committee looked at several factors and not just the money. We did consider that, we don’t want to spend $2.9 million if we have a bid for $694,000, but we don’t want to have been the only factor.”
The selection committee was comprised of Assistant County Manager Sandy Snow, Assistant Finance Officer Denise Brown, Purchasing Agent Miranda Jones, and Chief Deputy Larry Lowe, Lt. Randy Shelton, and Det. Justin Stirewalt of the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.
Vice Chair Mark Marion thanked all parties who applied but also wanted to ensure there was an off-ramp from the three-year contract, should there be a need. Brown said if complications arise, there is a clause that allows Southern Health Partners 30 days to make improvements, but the county can exit the contract if there is cause. The contract also holds an option for two one-year extensions of the agreement.
While the sheriff’s office and the county expressed satisfaction with improvements made by company, not everyone walked away from the process happy.
“The contract was awarded to a known company facing multiple lawsuits. Under their watch, people in Surry County have died,” Minton said Tuesday. “I am sure family members of the person that died at the jail would love to talk” about Southern Health Partners getting the contract.
Minton said he was told, “No one actually read (our proposal) according to a person on the selection committee.”
A request for comment from members of the selection committee was unanswered at time of press.
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