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Centurion asks legislature for larger mental‑health and dental contract increase to stabilize staffing
Summary
Centurion CEO told the committee rising market salaries and staffing shortfalls for psychiatrists, dentists and counselors require additional funding; the company proposed a $16M supplemental to the governor's $3.4M recommendation to begin raising pay and filling vacancies.
Tim Harlan, CEO of Centurion, told the House Appropriations Committee he supports the governor's recommendation for physical health services and pressed for additional funding for the company's mental‑health and dental contracts.
Harlan said inflation and market salary increases since the last contract adjustment in 2022 have widened a wage gap for nurses, psychiatrists, dentists and counselors and that the department's staffing matrix would require roughly 163 additional FTEs to meet caseload standards. He framed a $24.4 million topline need to fully address raises and staffing; after accounting for the governor's $3.4 million recommendation and current fill‑rates he described a $16 million incremental ask as a pragmatic next step to begin market adjustments and recruit clinicians.
"This medically intensive infirmary will be a game changer for the department," Harlan said, arguing that improved onsite capacity and better pay would reduce costly offsite LTACH placements and improve continuity of care for incarcerated people.
Centurion supplied detailed spreadsheets to the committee and agreed to provide additional position‑by‑position salary data at staff requests. Committee members voiced sympathy for clinical retention challenges and asked Centurion for comparative outside market pay data to inform appropriation decisions.
