On January 1, 2012, the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center (ADC) entered into a contract with Correctional Healthcare Companies, Inc. (CHC) to provide health services to the detainee population in Olmsted County. For the past 20+ years, the ADC has had a very effective working relationship with Olmsted County Public Health for this service. During that time, the facility was accredited twice by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC). Costs for health care of detainees were $1,067,571.00 in 2010 and $1,042,477.00 in 2011 for Olmsted County. Many detention centers across the country were starting to contract with private vendors that specialize in correctional care. With our partners in Public Health, we researched this option a few years ago and determined that we should wait and see how they performed for other facilities before we made a major change. In 2011, we interviewed some of the ever increasing number of detention center personnel that were contracting with private vendors. We learned that costs were reduced, care was appropriate, and litigation had not increased.
We used a two step process in our search for a correctional healthcare provider. The first step was sending out an RFI (Request For Information) which allowed us to analyze the companies currently providing the services we were seeking. The second step was sending out an RFP (Request For Proposal) to those who responded to our RFI. The RFP required the submittal of detailed information regarding the services the responder could provide, how they would provide those services, various sample documents, and responses to a questionnaire encompassing twelve (12) areas of importance to Olmsted County.
The RFP’s were evaluated by a team of seven which included staff from the Adult Detention Center, Public Health, Corrections, Attorney’s Office, and Purchasing. The evaluation included interviews with each responder, reference checks, financial stability checks, and individual team member scores of the technical proposals. The scores were weighted and ranked in order of highest scores to lowest score and then the cost proposals were opened. A contract was awarded to Correctional Healthcare Companies. They had the highest ranked technical proposal and the lowest price.
Today, CHC provides care for Olmsted County detainees and follows the NCCHC standards. We still have regular risk management meetings and CHC staff practice the specialty of correctional medicine. This specialty focuses on providing quality medically necessary care while reducing dependence on medications that may be over prescribed in the community. Health care staff provides education to detainees about their conditions and how to manage them. Difficulty sleeping is a typical example of how education and therapy can often take the place of medication. Detainees are taught exercise and relaxation techniques and practice them in order to rest instead of taking medicine that puts them to sleep. Health care staff are on duty in the facility 7 days per week and 16 hours per day which has already proven to reduce emergency room visits for routine medical conditions that can be cared for onsite. Portable X ray and mail order labs are used to reduce transport costs. Nurses pass medications which frees detention deputies to focus on security, safety, and management of detainee behavior.
Detainees continue to receive quality care and we believe we have served the taxpayers well by moving to this model of care. Evaluation of the contract and anticipated savings will be conducted at the end of the year.
We are interested in keeping you informed about County-provided law enforcement and detention services. If there is a topic you would like to see covered, please let us know and we will try to accommodate your requests!
Dave Mueller, Sheriff, 507-328-6745 or mueller.dave@co.olmsted.mn.us
Stacy Sinner, Director of Detention Services, 507-328-6837 or sinner.stacy@co.olmsted.mn.us
Deb Palmer, Director of Purchasing, 507-328-7085 or palmer.deb@co.olmsted.mn.us