PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has parted ways with Olympic Medical Center for inmate medical care.
The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $198,567 contract with Correctional Healthcare Management Inc. of Greenwood, Colo., to staff the Clallam County jail with a registered nurse and a licensed practical nurse through next March.
OMC raised the annually fee for its Home Health nursing service at the jail from $200,000 to $264,000.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has $200,000 in its budget for inmate health care.
“I regret that we couldn’t stay local,” said Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict, who oversees the jail.
County Administrator Jim Jones and Benedict have met with Olympic Medical Center CEO Eric Lewis to try to work out an new agreement.
It was determined that OMC could not provide the same level of service at the same price in a jail setting, Jones has said.
OMC officials say that some inmates sought medical treatment when they really didn’t need it, and that nurses struggled to weed out phony cases, Jones said.
Prison care speciality
Correctional Healthcare Management specializes in providing health care to prisoners.
The county opened just one bid for jail nursing services on Feb. 9. The contract amount is the same as the original bid.
Correctional Healthcare Management will staff the jail with two nurses — one of which is a former CHM worker who moved to Port Angeles about a year ago — working 40-hour weeks.
A nurse will be on call at all hours.
The new staff had a one-day orientation with the outgoing OMC nurses on March 31. The official start day was Thursday.
“So far so good,” Ron Sukert, jail superintendent, said Tuesday.
“There’s a learning curve in a new situation like that for both of us. I’m sure we’ll be just fine,” he added.
“One of our goals is to keep an eye on the whole process to ensure that there are no noticeable or drastic declines in service.”
Federal standards require a health assessment within two weeks of an inmate’s arrival at jail. Beyond that, an inmate pays $20 to see a nurse.
Correctional Health Care Management provides inmate health care at 73 facilities in 10 western states.
In other board action, the commissioners passed a contract amendment with the state Department of Corrections and Washington Corrections Center for Women that increases compensation for transporting female prisoners from $257.65 to $321.30.
The increase was needed to transport female inmates separate from male inmates, which is required by federal standards.
The contract also was extended to Dec. 31.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
