Carbon County must provide health care services to all inmates as part of a requirement for operating the correctional facility.

Last week, the board of commissioners, in a 2-1 vote, selected a new provider to handle those services for the next two years, beginning at the end of May. Wellpath of Franklin, Tennessee, submitted the winning proposal at a cost of nearly $2.2 million each year. Other providers who submitted bids were Primecare Medical Inc. of Harrisburg, which had been the provider until it terminated the contract because it couldn’t fulfill the services outlined in the contract, as well as Mediko of Richmond, Virginia, which bid $2.25 million and $2.3 million annually.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner, who voted against the choice for provider, said that his decision was based on conflicting information and 11th hour emails that provided added costs to the already large cost.

Prior to the vote, the board held a lengthy discussion, voicing their concerns and outlining what services will be provided.

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko said that the three proposals took a while to get to the table because there had to be a lot of discussion to get the proposals offering the same services.

“There’s a lot on the table here,” he said.

The contract looked at coverage for medications, medical transports, nursing staff at the facility, a medically assisted treatment program for drugs and alcohol, and the overall best option for coverage that also takes into consideration the taxpayers of Carbon County.

Sofranko said that Wellpath provides a proposal to cover all medications, while Mediko has a gap in medication coverage. Both Wellpath and Mediko also agreed to use vivitrol monthly injectables as the first offering for the MAT program, which coincides with what the county wants to do at the prison.

Nursing within the prison would also increase to 24-hour coverage instead of just 12-hour coverage, hopefully cutting down on medical transports being needed, he said.

“The difference between the two of them is Mediko kind of rolls it all into the program, that’s how they elected to do it, while Wellpath carves it out and tells us exactly how many hours and what’s going toward our MAT program, and if there’s not enough people in the MAT program, those hours get shifted to other care.”

He also briefly spoke about Primecare providing a proposal.

“I don’t want to get into anything negative here, but Primecare notified the county that they were getting out of the contract,” Sofranko said of the company’s notice to Carbon in December. “They said they can no longer provide the services and we’ve had some issues. So when you sit here and you get a company that basically tells you they can’t provide services anymore and then they put in for the contract, I become very skeptical on why that was done.”

Because of this, the county seriously considered the offer.

Wellpath issues

Ahner also voiced his issues with Wellpath’s proposal, noting that the county received additional information the evening before the meeting that would increase their bid by approximately $250,000.

He spoke about the added hidden costs that could be incurred with some items, such as medical transports, which could cost the county $1,000 per transport.

“What we got back last night from Wellpath, they made some changes to it and when we look at the overall bidding amount, the best price does not always get you the best service,” he said. “... I just need a bit of clarification on the first contract or proposal they sent to the second one.”

Sofranko said that while Wellpath sent an amended proposal at the 11th hour, it was not the number that was on the agenda that was being voted on, so that updated email was not being considered.

“I look at it as both of these contracts meet (the prison’s) needs, and then it comes down to cost and everything can be projected,” Sofranko said. “I just know that the money is there (in the budget) and that’s my concern. ... As far as emails, which I did read, as I’ve told everybody, the numbers that are on this page are the numbers that I will work within. That is what was advertised in the agenda. That is what I am voting on today. Late night emails don’t mean anything to me.”

“I know you got concerns,” he told Ahner. “And I agree with those concerns, but I’m not here voting on the late night email or conversations that happened after this agenda (was published on the county website). If that person or if that company cannot adhere to what is on this agenda, then we’ll be back here again.”

Ahner said that he just has some major concerns because of the updates that aren’t in the contract Wellpath had initially submitted.

“We’re going to be dealing with a $250,000 problem (based on the late night email),” Ahner said.

At that point, Sofranko closed the discussion and asked for a motion for one of the providers, which Commissioner Wayne Nothstein made for Wellpath.

Carbon County’s health services at the prison through Primecare expire on May 30, three days after the new contract with Wellpath goes into effect.