BRAINERD — Crow Wing County officials are scrambling to make sure medical treatment for people housed in the county jail is not interrupted and the staff members providing care are paid.
Described as an emergency situation by County Administrator Tim Houle, the Sartell-based medical services provider MEnD Correctional Care quit paying its staff after declaring bankruptcy late last month. This includes four nurses and three medical technicians assigned to the Crow Wing County Jail, who thus far have continued to show up for work despite not earning a paycheck for two consecutive pay periods. Mental health providers included in the contract are no longer providing services, according to Houle.
“We are in a difficult position with our nursing staff as they are not being paid, so when they show up for each shift, it’s kind of a bonus for us at this point,” said Heath Fosteson, jail administrator, during the County Board’s Tuesday, Dec. 13, committee of the whole meeting. “So this is something that we’ve got to navigate relatively quickly to keep our services going as best we can.”
MEnD’s bankruptcy comes after a troublesome year for its owner, Dr. Todd Leonard. Leonard’s medical license was indefinitely suspended in January amid scrutiny of the provider’s role in the deaths of multiple people held in county jails. None of these deaths occurred in Crow Wing, but the 2018 death of a 26-year-old man in Beltrami County was the catalyst for Leonard’s suspension. According to KARE11, MEnD at one time provided care in more than 40 jails in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.
While Houle said after Tuesday’s meeting that Crow Wing County did not share the concerns of other counties with MEnD’s quality of care, staff were exploring other provider options since last year. One potential provider is Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc., or ACH, while a second option under consideration is local provider Essentia Health.
Fosteson said Tuesday he was waiting for an updated bid from ACH, which provided a cost estimate based on a daily population of 220 inmates — significantly more expensive than the county’s contract with MEnD. The jail hasn’t housed this many inmates for quite some time, Fosteson said, so he provided six years of historical data to ACH to make adjustments.
Chelsey Perkins / Brainerd Dispatch
The provider submitted an updated proposal Wednesday based on an average population of 152 inmates with an annual price tag of $1,006,999, which still exceeds 2022’s contract with MEnD by more than $300,000.
The one-page proposal lacked the detail necessary to compare with the current contract, although Houle said after Tuesday’s meeting ACH appeared to be offering less services. Meanwhile, Fosteson said several counties are inundating ACH with requests in response to MEnD’s actions, which is slowing things down. But Crow Wing County would be toward the top of the provider’s list to complete an agreement, he said, because the county began the process earlier than others.
Officials told the County Board they were not yet ready to recommend either alternative provider, as more information was needed. Another possibility is Crow Wing County directly hiring medical staff for the jail, but this also needs more contemplation than the unfolding situation of the surprise bankruptcy allows, they said.
Chelsey Perkins / Brainerd Dispatch
“I think we need to hold them (MEnD) accountable, but I think we should be considering paying the nurses,” said Commissioner Bill Brekken. “ … We need to move forward. If we’re sitting here negotiating and waiting, don’t make those nurses work without being paid.”
Fosteson said he’s met with the medical staff to reassure them the county is doing everything it can to get them paid.
In the meantime, Houle asked commissioners Tuesday if they supported withholding part of the county’s $58,522.28 monthly payment to MEnD to cover the wages of their employees in the jail.
“I think we should notify MEnD that they are in breach of contract for failure to pay their staff, that we are short-paying their invoice by the amount that we need to cover their staff. We’re going to pay them for you,” Houle said. “That is not normal. There may be lawsuits eventually. I don’t know what else we can do about that right now other than live with the risk. That’s why we carry insurance.”
Commissioner Paul Koering, participating remotely from his Florida residence, said he agreed with holding back the check and liked the concept of a community partner like Essentia, but he didn’t like the idea of the county hiring people on its own.
“I’m having a hard time making any decision because I don’t think this is fleshed out enough to me,” Koering said. “But somehow, we need to temporarily keep things going. … If that puts us in a legal situation, I just think that ethically it’s the proper thing to do to pay these fine people who are doing good work.”
Commissioner Steve Barrows said the county carried risk in the situation regardless.
Chelsey Perkins / Brainerd Dispatch
“If we lose these people, the risk will be over at the jail if we don’t provide the service,” Barrows said. “ … I agree with Commissioner Koering that we ought to withhold the money and take our chances of that risk versus not providing the service to the inmates over there.”
In an email update Thursday, Houle said the county sent a notice of default to MEnD and informed the company all future payments will be withheld unless it pays its staff by Dec. 26. Otherwise, the county will terminate the agreement.
Houle said county staff members are working to develop a temporary solution.
“Our goal is to put together a stop-gap measure that will allow us a bit more time to ripen the ACH proposal, get one from a community provider, or do the work ourselves. I expect that to be no more than 2-6 months, I would prefer closer to 3 months, but we’ll have to be flexible,” Houle wrote.
CHELSEY PERKINS, community editor, may be reached at 218-855-5874 or
chelsey.perkins@brainerddispatch.com
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