Kent City Council approves jail medical services contract

A Tumwater company will take over medical services for Kent jail inmates at a cost of $628,919 per year.

Healthcare Delivery Systems will replace Renton-based Valley Medical Center Occupational Health Services as the provider of medical services to inmates as required by federal and state law. The Kent City Council approved a five-year contract Nov. 17 with Healthcare Delivery Systems with three options to renew, each for an additional three years.

“We have contracted with Valley Medical for over 20 years,” said Kent Police Cmdr. Diane McCuistion in a Nov. 10 report at the council’s Committee of the Whole meeting. “Valley notified us in the spring they were leaving corrections medicine. Their contract ends Dec. 31.”

Elizabeth Nolan, vice president of marketing for Valley Medical Center, said in a Dec. 1 email that hospital leaders decided to go a different direction with the services it provides.

“Valley provided correctional medicine as a contracted service and made a very tough decision last year to discontinue it, allowing us to focus limited resources on core services,” Nolan said.

Valley Medical also had jail medical services contracts with the cities of Issaquah, Kirkland and Lynnwood that expired last year, Nolan said. Kent was the only remaining contract city.

“We provided extended notification to give as much time as possible for evaluation and selection of an alternative contractor,” Nolan said.

The city of Kent put out a request for proposal for jail medical service providers in June, but received only one proposal by the July 29 deadline. The city decided to add 30 days to the deadline and ended up with three bids.

Ideal Option of Pasco submitted a proposal of $575,000. The company specializes in clinics, partners with jails and is new to correctional medical services, McCuistion said.

Wellpath, a national company based in Nashville, Tennessee, submitted a bid of $857,000. The company has contracts in 33 states to provide medical services at the federal, state and local level.

A city panel of seven interviewed representatives from the three companies. McCuistion said the panel considered budget, experience in correctional medicine, the proximity of the vendor, the financial stability of the candidates and the compatibility with the program to meet jail facility needs. The panel also preferred a local company over a national candidate.

Healthcare Delivery Systems became the preferred choice. The company has contracts with the Puyallup City Jail, the Thurston County Corrections Facility in Olympia, the Mason County Jail in Shelton, the Olympia City Jail and the Jefferson County Jail in Port Hadlock.

“Our company has a proven record in developing and managing complex correctional health care systems and looks forward to assisting in the growth and development of your program,” Healthcare Delivery Systems CEO and President Shannon Slack said in the company’s proposal to the city.

Healthcare Delivery Services impressed the city panel.

“The proposal was monetarily in the middle of the three candidates, but the highest for experience and knowledge of importance of the partnership required by a provider and corrections facility,” according to city documents. “Healthcare Delivery Systems will utilize industry best practices and onboard electronic medical records, on-call telephone consultations and tele-med psych services.”

The services will include dental care and mental health care.

About the jail

The city jail, 1230 Central Ave. S., officially called the City of Kent Corrections Facility, opened in 1986 with a capacity of 48 beds. The city expanded the facility in 1991 to 96 beds by double bunking the cells.

The facility houses misdemeanor offenders, male and female, arrested by police as well as those sentenced to less than one year in Kent Municipal Court. The crimes include drunk driving, domestic violence, minor assaults and petty theft. Felony cases are handled by King County’s Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent or the downtown Seattle county jail.

Kent also has a dormitory that can hold another 30-plus inmates who are on work release and return at night.

The average daily population including home detention and program inmates at the facility was 119 in 2019, with a peak population of 133, according to city documents. Average daily population in 2020 is anticipated to be approximately 120 inmates, with a peak of 134 inmates. The average inmate length of stay is 11 days. Jail capacity has been lower during COVID-19.

Kent contracts with the city of Federal Way to handle up to five inmates per month and with the city of Maple Valley to handle two inmates per month.

Medical services provided in 2019 included 5,210 clinic visits; 4,505 nurse intake screenings; 1,576 visits with a doctor or physician’s assistant; 729 inmate on withdrawal protocols; 240 lab specimens; 144 DUI blood draws; and 36 emergency room visits, according to city documents.

“The medical needs are high,” McCuistion said. “Over the past decade, we have seen a significant increase in medical issues surrounding drug addiction.”

Food service contract

The council is scheduled to approve Dec. 8 a contract extension with South Dakota-based Summit Food Services to provide inmate food service at a cost of $472,430 per year. The city is constitutionally required to provide meal service to all inmates.

Kent currently contracts with Mercer Island-based Consolidated Food Management, which merged with Summit Food Services, doing business as Summit Food Services Management. The current contract will expire on Dec. 31.

The proposed amendment extends the current contract for five years, ending on Dec. 31, 2025; makes adjustments to price; and alters provisions relating to emergency planning and staff meals. Summit Food Services is an experienced correctional meal vendor that has partnered with the Kent Correctional Facility for more than 30 years as Consolidated Food Management. Although Summit Food Services provides meal services to other surrounding correctional facilities, the city of Kent is their longest standing food services contract.