Vance County commissioners approved a recommendation Monday to pay almost $100,000 to a Charlotte-based urgent care company to provide two weeks’ worth of health care services at the county detention center after the company that had the contract to provide care terminated its agreement with the jail.
Sheriff Curtis Brame told WIZS News on Tuesday that he was not present at the meeting, originally scheduled to discuss in closed session an economic development project.
Brame did not elaborate on the reason that Southern Health Partners terminated the contract and stopped providing services to detainees at the jail on Friday, Oct. 14.
“We just didn’t see eye-to-eye on certain things and they made the decision to leave,” he said in a telephone interview.
Southern Health Partners gave a two-week notice, which set in motion a search for a new provider, according to information that County Manager Jordan McMillen gave in his report to the board on Monday.
Three of the four companies that were contacted declined the offer, but a fourth, StarMed, agreed to step in on a short-term basis. The bill for the first week was $52,000 and the bill for the second week is $40,000.
The jail health care item was added to the agenda late Friday, Oct. 21, according to McMillen, when the county got the bill for the second week of service.
“The health department was instrumental in identifying StarMed…and health department nurses were critical in filling the gap over the first weekend until the transition was made,” McMillen wrote in his report.
StarMed has expressed interest in continuing its contract for an additional 60 days, but McMillen said cost is an issue.
“We are continuing to look for a long-term solution which will require the need for a local physician to oversee the program as well as nurses to work in the jail,” he stated.
The county is responsible for funding, but it is the sheriff who oversees the jail and requirements related to secure, provide and maintain health care at the jail, McMillen said.
The money to pay StarMed would come from the county’s fund balance, the report stated.
Commissioners also approved authorizing the county manager to approve additional contracts up to the next 60 days.