Lackawanna County awards three-year inmate health care contract to ARMOUR Health LLC

The Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners voted Dec. 18 to award a three‑year contract for comprehensive inmate health care services to ARMOUR Health LLC, with a contract term running Jan. 15, 2025, through Jan. 14, 2028. The resolution was presented after a recommendation from the county prison board and was approved by voice vote.

County officials said the contract aims to improve clinical care while reducing costs tied to emergency room transports. At the prison board and again before the commissioners, ARMOUR’s director of business development, Rex Caldwell, described the company as physician‑owned and said it will bring new technology and clinical protocols to the facility. “We’re excited to be here and ready to get moving,” Caldwell said.

ARMOUR told the board it will field a base medical staff of 25 full‑time employees and a medication‑assisted treatment (MAT) complement equal to 2.7 full‑time equivalents, for a total of 27.7 FTE. Caldwell said ARMOUR emphasizes behavioral health and MAT and plans to use automated scheduling and electronic prescribing to streamline care. The company also described recruitment and retention tools, including a student‑loan reimbursement program the company characterized as paying $75–$250 monthly up to a $20,000 maximum for enrolled employees.

County officials and ARMOUR cited on‑site treatment as a way to lower unnecessary hospital transfers and overtime costs for county staff. Caldwell said the company trains its clinical staff to provide certain procedures in‑house (for example, suturing) and seeks second opinions with regional medical directors before sending inmates off‑site. He said ARMOUR’s slide showed a 67 percent hospital admission rate for prior transports (meaning roughly six or seven of every 10 inmates taken to the hospital were admitted) and that the figure has risen in other counties to about 72–75 percent; commissioners did not provide independent verification of those numbers at the meeting.

A commissioner who spoke before the vote described the review committee’s months‑long analysis and said ARMOUR’s proposal was the lowest cost among respondents and demonstrated an understanding of the local prison population’s needs. The board approved the resolution by voice vote; the meeting record shows the ayes prevailed.

The resolution text entered into the minutes names ARMOUR Health LLC as the awarded provider and records the contract term. The resolution did not specify the annual contract dollar amount in the public reading of the motion.

Implementation details cited at the meeting include ARMOUR’s planned start‑up presence at the jail on and around Jan. 15 and its intention to coordinate with the warden and community partners. Commissioners and ARMOUR representatives said they expect reduced off‑site ER transports and lower overtime costs but did not provide a projected savings figure at the meeting.

The board approved the motion; no roll‑call vote tally with individual commissioner votes was recorded in the meeting transcript.