Carver County is the latest county to contract with a private firm to offer in-house health services to inmates at the county jail.
The County Board approved an inmate medical services contract with Mend Correctional Care of Waite Park, Minn., on Tuesday.
The new deal expands Carver County's contract with Mend to about $200,000 a year. The county first contracted with the company last year, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement required the county to have an in-house nurse practitioner or physician assistant, said Jason Kamerud, the chief deputy. The county jail is one of several facilities that house ICE detainees.
The county had employed its own jail nurses and a local physician. The jail had nurses on site, but if inmates needed to see a physician they would be sent to a local Chaska doctor. Mend offered a physician on staff at the jail.
Last month, one of the county's nurses resigned and another retired. The two nurses had a combined salary of about $85,000. Instead of the county hiring replacements, Mend will fill the vacancy.
"Now when an employee calls in sick or someone resigns," Kamerud said, "we will not have that three-month gap in the hiring process. That is Mend's issue to resolve."
Along with health care, Mend will consult with outside vendors for prescriptions, lab services and hospital services, and provide medical training for jail staff. Mend has contracted with Sherburne County, Dakota County and Houston County.
