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Hudson County officials prepare new procurement for jail medical services as WellPath parent faces bankruptcy
Summary
County counsel and the administrator told commissioners they had cleared procurement specifications with the county Comptroller and will issue an RFP for correctional medical services after receiving state clearance; officials said they had seen no service interruption but warned of gaps in secure hospital placements for patients with serious mental illness.
Hudson County officials said Tuesday they will move forward with a public procurement for jail medical services after the county shared proposed specifications with the state Comptroller.
Donato J. Battista, Hudson County Counsel, told the Board of County Commissioners the county had circulated a proposed set of specifications to the Comptroller and expects a response before issuing the request for proposals. “Once they've cleared it, we will issue the RFP by a public procurement process,” Battista said. He added that, to his knowledge, “there has been no interruption in the services that are being provided by WellPath.”
County Administrator Abraham Antun said the RFP process is being completed under guidance from the Comptroller and that the administration has prepared specifications intended to attract multiple bidders. “We have sent already to the Comptroller, as part of our ongoing issue with the Comptroller, we have sent them a proposed set of specifications that will be ready to be issued,” Antun said.
Commissioners pressed officials about the operational risks if a contractor in financial distress were to curtail services. Commissioner William O'Dea said the county should prepare contingency plans and consider issuing a new procurement sooner rather than later. “When there's an entity that's in that financial situation, I think we should look at what the current contract says and explore whether we should at least prepare an RFP for the medical services,” O'Dea said.
Separately, jail leadership and commissioners described a continuing shortage of secure hospital placements for people in the county jail who require locked medical or psychiatric units. Director Scott said the county has turned to State Department of Health (DOH) placements in some cases and that rehabilitation centers and hospitals have increasingly restrictive admission criteria. Director Scott said the county has, at times, used electronic monitoring and added correctional staffing to manage safety risks while patients are in outside facilities.
The board received a related update on another private provider: Battista said WellPath's parent company had sought an investor infusion and that parts of the company (behavioral health services) had been separated in transactions. He said the county was working through procurement and oversight steps while monitoring the firm's bankruptcy-related filings.
What happens next: County counsel said the specifications will be refined with the Comptroller’s input and, pending clearance, the county will issue the RFP. Officials said they expect to have the specifications out for procurement by the end of the month and that any awarded contract would come through the normal fair-and-open evaluation process.
