Commissioners approve $1.6 million contract for Washington Co. jail medical care
The county commissioners have entered into a nearly five-year contract that will pay a company about $1.6 million annually to provide medical care to inmates at the Washington County jail.
The contract with Harrisburg-based PrimeCare Medical Inc. will begin April 5 and pay the company $132,908 per month for the remainder of the year, and includes annual increases of between 3 and 5% through the end of 2025.
The county’s prison board approved the “comprehensive health services” agreement Wednesday and the commissioners unanimously voted to accept the contract during their regular meeting Thursday.
PrimeCare Medical, which specializes in health care at correctional facilities, will provide mental health, dental, medical and other related health care services to the inmate population.
There are three additional one-year options that can be triggered when the contract expires, although details on whether those extensions must be mutual were not immediately released.
Finance Director Joshua Hatfield estimated the total medical costs at the jail would have been around $1.5 million this year, although that can fluctuate depending on the care, meaning the contract with PrimeCare is similar to what they would have paid.
Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan said the contract with PrimeCare will offer more services without additional expenses that were not included in the contract with a previous provider. The commissioners and prison board in December approved a month-to-month contract extension with Washington Physician Hospital Organization Inc. for some medical services at the jail that cost $17,126 per month that will end with the start of the new contract.
“It encompasses more. What you don’t see is all the out-of-pocket costs for all the things we had to do outside the jail. So you can’t compare the two,” Irey Vaughan said. “We’re going to be able to provide more health care services in the jail. They’ll be able to bring equipment in and provide services that we’ve never had before.”
She said that previous contract only allowed for a physician to come into the facility on an as-needed basis during limited hours. The county still had to pay for an in-house clinic, medical staff, patient transports and additional medical expenses if they could not be treated at the jail, Irey Vaughan said.
PrimeCare will take over the jail’s medical clinic and is expected to offer positions to the county employees who currently work there, Irey Vaughan said. All workers will be PrimeCare employees and the contractor will assume liability, she said. The contract also means there will be a health services director, medical director, psychiatrist, nurse practitioner, medical assistant, licensed clinical social worker and dentist, among other positions.
The company can also bring in equipment for X-rays, scans and other tests, Irey Vaughan said, and would only require transport for inmates who need emergency services.
“This is an all-inclusive contract that will replace a bunch of different contracts in the county,” Irey Vaughan said.
The new contract was negotiated using the average daily population at the jail, which is lower now due to COVID-19 restrictions, she said.
Jail Warden Jeffrey Fewell could not be reached for comment Friday to discuss the new medical provider. The details in the contract were not immediately released Friday while county solicitor Jana Grimm reviewed the documents, county officials said.