State officials have contracted with a recently established firm in Columbia, SC to take over administration at Alaska Psychiatric Institute, in a $1 million a month deal awarded without competitive bidding.
According to Alaska Commissioner of Health and Social Services Adam Crum, the decision came in response to management issues at the state psychiatric hospital in Anchorage, which has had continuous incidents that put patients and staff in jeopardy, and also because of ongoing investigations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other state and federal regulatory agencies.
Crum said that his agency determined that immediate steps were needed to protect patients and staff and ensure complete compliance with federal regulations, which also allows the facility to continue to receive federal funds.
The state has given a $1 million a month contract to Wellpath Recovery Solutions, of Columbia, SC, which Crum described as a nationally recognized health care company with a proven record of success, to provide administration with continued oversight from the state. Crum said that Wellpath would bring in experts to fill key leadership positions at API, that all API staff would remain as state employees, and that if successful, Wellpath would assume full responsibility of API after July 1.
The announcement on Feb. 8 prompted quick response from Jake Metcalfe, executive director of the Alaska State Employees Association AFSCME Local 52, which represents union workers at the state facility, who are concerned about their job security under a privatized contract.
According to Metcalfe, the state did not follow proper legal procedures before contracting out the work, as written in the state’s contract with the union. There is a procurement statute and there are strict rules about procurement with the state, which they did not follow, he said. “That has to be done the right way and it has to be done the legal way,” he said. “It concerns me that they (the state) is going to spend $7 million deciding whether to privatize.”
“Right now, you have a wide range of experience on staff, nurses, psychiatrists and nursing assistants,” he said. “When you privatize and tell people quit or stay with this company there could be a huge turnover and that’s not good for the patients.”
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, took to the floor of the Senate on Feb. 8 to express his concerns, from the sole source contract to the company itself.
The senator said that API has 80 beds, of which only 35 are currently filled, and that in fact that the facility needs about 250 beds to meet current demand.
“I have grave concerns about what is happening at our psychiatric institute,” he said.
“Wellpath is not a nationally recognized health care company with a proven record of success,” Wielechowski said. “They are a health care company that has existed for exactly four months,” formed by two other correction companies, Correct Care Solutions, which is affiliated with GEO Group, he said. Correct Care Solutions has been sued 140 times (since 2005) and blamed for at least six deaths, he said. GEO Group, which runs immigration detention facilities among other facilities, has been the subject of numerous articles and been the subject of 1,395 lawsuits for poor medical care and more since 1993, he said.
“The mission of API and is to provide emergency and court ordered in-patient psychiatric services in a safe environment, using culturally sensitive effective person-centered treatment, followed by a referral to an appropriate level of care and support for recovery from mental illnesses,” he said.
“The contractor objective is to make money come in. They have incentive to treat patients in a way that monetizes that treatment and makes money for the company, as opposed to taking care of the patients and help them to get better,” he said.
