Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris could sign an emergency contract to extend the county’s association with Wellpath LLC, after County Commissioners rejected a sixth contract extension earlier this week.

Wellpath is contracted to provide health care for detainees in the county jail, Jail East, inmates at the Correctional Center and juvenile detainees.

Trail of lawsuits plague health care provider for county inmates

On Monday, May 18, the commission failed to approve the sixth three-month extension for two contracts for adult and juvenile care that total $5.1 million.

The fifth extension was approved in January at a cost of $3.3 million.

Of the 10 commissioners who voted, only Commissioner Mick Wright approved the extensions. Commissioners David Bradford, Edmund Ford Jr., Tami Sawyer and Michael Whaley voted no. The remaining commissioners abstained or did not vote.

Wellpath, formerly Correct Care Solutions, is based in Nashville and is one of the nation’s largest prison health care providers. It is owned by H.I.G. Capital, a private equity investment firm, which reports “$37 billion of equity capital under management.”

Adults and juveniles in county custody have a constitutional right to health care and Wellpath will continue to provide health care on an emergency basis.

Bringing the contract to the commission was a courtesy and it can still be signed by Harris, said Alisa Haushalter, Health Department director.

The mayor has it under review, Haushalter said.

There is no additional cost to the county to extend the contract, she said.

The county has contracted with Wellpath (CCS) since 2013 and has spent more than $146.8 million. This contract expired in 2018, but there are reasons for the extensions, Haushalter said.

Initially, it was one of a few large contracts that were exempt from adhering to requirements dictated by the county’s MWBE and LOSB (minority-women business enterprise and locally owned small business) ordinance.

But the commission modified the ordinance, which required the Health Department to reissue a request for proposals before switching to a request for quotations (RFQ) to better meet the county’s new mandates, she said.

The sixth extension, Haushalter said, was because of failures at the Health Department.

Contract extensions for Wellpath don’t sit well with Shelby County

She has told the commission Wellpath had the highest score in the most recent RFQ, but realizes the commission isn’t likely to approve the next contract.

“I think the signal is already clear to us that we need to have some further dialog around the concerns that the body has expressed, particularly regarding Wellpath,” Haushalther said during Monday’s commission meeting.

Perhaps the next stop should be an outside entity to handle the bid and scoring process, said Commissioner Van Turner, who chairs the hospitals and health committee.

“A third neutral third party could come in and bid this thing out and say we have no interest in the outcome. It’s a way to break through the logjam,” Turner said.

Commissioners have had issues with Wellpath (CCS), which is facing lawsuits from around the nation and in Shelby County by former inmates who claim to have received substandard care, family members of inmates who died and ex-employees who believe they were wrongfully terminated for raising the alarm.

Second inmate files suit against Shelby County jail health care provider

Last year, Robert “Bob” Brame, a former Shelby County jail inmate, claimed in a lawsuit against the Wellpath, Shelby County, the jail and the sheriff that company employees failed to care adequately for his broken leg. An infection set in and Brame’s left leg had to be amputated.

Erik R. Honeycutt, another jail inmate, filed a lawsuit claiming Wellpath employees at 201 Poplar gave him the wrong medication for his non-epileptic seizure disorder, causing him to have debilitating seizures. Honeycutt is asking for $1 million.

And nurses Crystal Tucker and Kelly Brumley, who worked for CCS at the Shelby County Correctional Center, said they were wrongfully terminated after complaining about how inmates were treated.