Coroner seeks contract amendment with Saratoga Hospital as autopsy workload and costs climb

Coroner Susan Hayes Mesa asked the Saratoga County Public Safety Committee to approve an amendment raising the county's not-to-exceed payments to Saratoga Hospital for 2024 and 2025, saying the hospital's recent computer-system rollout delayed invoices and led to higher-than-expected charges.

Mesa asked the committee to increase the 2024 limit from $65,000 to $70,323 and the 2025 limit to $75,246, saying conversations with the hospital's financial manager confirmed the system's billing "bugs" have been corrected but that the county remains responsible for the outstanding charges.

Why it matters: The coroner's office flagged the amendment not only as a short-term billing correction but also as part of a broader concern about growing autopsy-related costs and limited forensic-pathology staffing in the region. Mesa told the committee that county costs "depend on how many autopsies I do. And I can't guarantee we're only going to do a hundred. We did 132 last year," underscoring how caseload volatility can change budget needs.

Committee members asked timing and billing questions, specifically whether the 2024 invoices reflected services rendered late in the year after the hospital's system change. Mesa said the hospital began the new system in fall 2024 and that invoices accumulated at year-end as staff caught up.

The committee approved the amendment. Members also discussed longer-term staffing and backup concerns for forensic pathology: witnesses at the meeting said the county currently relies on a long-serving forensic pathologist who covers a large geographic area, and officials said they are exploring backup options to reduce single-point-of-failure risk.

Next steps: The county will process the contract amendment with Saratoga Hospital and continue discussing contingency plans for forensic-pathology coverage and potential budget impacts if autopsy volumes remain elevated.