Health services in Onondaga County’s jails could soon be run by a private company. The county last month sent out requests for proposals to companies that specialize in health and mental health services in correctional facilities to see if it would be cheaper to outsource. The county spends $8.1 million a year to run those programs at the Justice Center...
Health services in Onondaga County’s jails could soon be run by a private company.
The county last month sent out requests for proposals to companies that specialize in health and mental health services in correctional facilities to see if it would be cheaper to outsource.
The county spends $8.1 million a year to run those programs at the Justice Center jail, Onondaga County Correctional Facility in Jamesville and Hillbrook Detention Facility for juvenile offenders.
Fifty-seven county jobs could be affected, although many of those employees could go to work for the private company if the switch is made, Health Commissioner Dr. Cynthia Morrow said.
The idea to outsource first arose two years ago, she said. It has nothing to do with recent reports of problems with health care at the Justice Center, she said. The state Commission of Correction last month criticized the health care that a female inmate received at the jail before she died from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
The county is not committed to outsourcing, Morrow said. It will look at the responses it gets and consider the switch, she said.
If a contract is awarded, it would be done by Sept. 10, and the private company would take over Oct. 1, according to the request for proposal.
The goal is to save money by making the services more efficient while not diminishing quality, Morrow said. Eight other New York state counties have made the switch.
“There’s been a growing niche of providers who specialize in that,” Morrow said.
“We would be remiss if we didn’t pursue this as an option.”
The county contracts with a company that supplies physicians for the jail, but it employs nurses and other health-care workers.
One of the unions that represents workers in the three facilities would fight the switch. The Civil Service Employees Association would sue the county if it tried to outsource the jobs of its members, spokesman Mark Kotzin said. The union represents 26 licensed practical nurses, medical records specialists and psychiatric social workers whose jobs would be affected.
County officials told the union that the possible outsourcing was prompted by a crisis, Kotzin said. The contractor that provides physicians to the jails, a private practice run by physicians at Upstate Medical University, is ending its contract with the county, he said.
That contractor, whose doctors provide clinics and the medical directorship at the jail, will get out of the facilities at the end of August, Morrow said.
That shouldn’t result in a revamping of the entire system, Kotzin said.
“If there are problems with the operations of the health services, those need to be looked at independently instead of just contracting out the entire operation,” he said. “There’s no reason to get rid of good, hardworking, dedicated county employees when the problem doesn’t exist with them.”
The situation with the medical administration combined with the county’s budget crunch prompted the county to seek proposals, Morrow said.
Any company that sought the contract would have to agree to have the same regulation from state and federal agencies as the jails have now, she said.
John O’Brien can be reached at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.