Health care is changing at the Barnstable County jail.
In-house medical staff are providing care to inmates, in a change from the outside company previously contracted by the sheriff's office.
First-term Sheriff Donna Buckley made the decision as part of her transition into the office. Elected last fall, she replaced Sheriff James Cummings, who served for 23 years.
Understaffing was a problem with the jail’s last two health care contractors, she said.
“I became aware, actually, during the campaign that … the staffing challenges were so serious, there were times when no one was here,” she said. “As a matter of fact, I had learned that they had called a local paramedic from a fire department to come in and cover.”
The contract with private health care provider Wellpath was set to expire this month, but Buckley ended it in August.
“They were … requiring people to work double shifts, so people were getting burned out,” she said.
Buckley said the understaffing problem was more about the for-profit model than the company.
Unlike a private vendor, the jail isn’t trying to make a profit, so the sheriff said she can devote more of her budget to attracting and retaining employees.
The health staff includes nurses, nurse practitioners, and mental health clinicians, among others.
“A hundred percent of the compensation is going to the employee, as opposed to, under the Wellpath model, some of it's being diverted for administration and expenses — and profit,” she said.
Some of Wellpath’s employees have been hired for the in-house staff, and Buckley’s office is making additional hires, she said. They will be state employees, eligible for state benefits.
Buckley said she expects to spend more on health care than her predecessor, because inmates’ mental health care needs more attention. She also wants to devote more time to health education and connecting inmates to community providers for after their release.
Asked how she would fund the increase, Buckley said she has money in the budget from eliminating the sheriff’s boat and closing the patrol division.
