Massachusetts Secures New Prison Health Care Contract, Cuts Ties With Troubled Former Provider
DEBARYLIFE – The Massachusetts Department of Corrections ended its five-year contract with a provider that was under fire for lengthy wait times and service denials by entering into a new agreement for health care services at the state’s ten prisons.
The agency confirmed in a statement posted on Friday that Wellpath, based in Nashville, Tenn., had been replaced by VitalCore Health Strategies, a nationwide business with offices in Stowe, Vermont.
Following an “extensive procurement process,” according to officials, VitalCore was selected to win the contract on the basis of its “demonstrated ability to provide innovative and comprehensive correctional health care.”
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According to a statement released by the Correction Department, the state consulted specialists from UMass Chan Medical School’s ForHealth Consulting to draft their call for proposals for the contract.
Terrence Reidy, the state secretary of public safety and security, said in a statement that the new collaboration “reflects (the company’s) deep commitment to delivering holistic healthcare to incarcerated individuals.”
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Earlier this year, The Appeal, a website covering criminal justice reform problems, reported that inmates in the state’s prison system “had to wait years” for Wellpath to give them dentures or other basic dental care. This revelation thrust Wellpath into the national spotlight.
When Wellpath’s contract was up for renewal late last year, the two Democratic U.S. senators from the Bay State, Elizabeth Warren, and Ed Markey, wrote a letter to the firm expressing their worries.
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Among the questions were whether Wellpath, which assumed control of the state’s healthcare system in 2018, intended to reduce the costs associated with maintaining that system despite the state’s prison population becoming older and sicker; what proportion of staffing was necessary to meet those needs; and whether or not the company had contributed to state-wide county sheriff races.
Warren said she has “pushed hard for stricter oversight, proper staffing and appropriate treatment in the prison health care system in Massachusetts” in a statement given to MassLive on Friday.
Warren stated, “The selection of VitalCore demonstrates the Healey administration’s dedication to (improving) health care for individuals in state custody,” and she added that she would “keep an eye on this new provider’s performance to ensure accountability.”
That opinion was reinforced by Interim Correction Commissioner Shawn Jenkins, who stated that VitalCore was chosen due to its “ability to deliver important services across our state correctional system.”
Jenkins went on, “Our approach to improving our service delivery model in ways that will improve outcomes for those entrusted to our care was informed by the expertise of our partners at ForHealth.”
“Proud of the work it does in Massachusetts and around the country to provide high-quality care to hundreds of thousands of patients every year,” WellPath said in a statement to MassLive late last year in defense of the services it supplied to the Commonwealth.
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A representative for the company told MassLive, “We put patients at the center of everything we do, and our clients count on us for our professionalism, our innovative approach, and our world-class healthcare providers.”
When MassLive contacted the Correction Department, they wanted to know if the agency’s decision-making was influenced by the attention that Warren and Markey had given Wellpath as well as the Barnstable County officials’ choice to end the company’s contract two months early.
A representative for the Correction Department, Scott Croteau, underlined in an email that “VitalCore was selected after a robust and competitive procurement process.”
Understanding that prisoners have a variety of demands, we chose VitalCore.