Post by Logan on Feb 12, 2016 5:04:22 GMT -6
Lawmakers are expressing reservations over the Department of Corrections deal with a Florida company to provide health care in its prisons, saying it wasn’t fully vetted or formally bid and includes provisions that could drive up costs.
Sen. Greg Evers, chairman of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, said Thursday he was surprised to learn of the contract with Centurion of Florida, which the agency entered into two weeks ago after its current vendor, Corizon Healthcare, walked out early on its five-year contract.
Centurion will be paid a maximum of $267.9 million a year to provide health care to 82 percent of the state’s inmates in prisons throughout Central and North Florida, including the Big Bend, where Corizon operates for now.
The “cost-plus” contract pays the company for its actual costs, like salaries and benefits, and gives it an additional payment of 13.5 percent of its costs, for overhead and profit. Though the agency says it’s unlikely to happen, Centurion could get more than $30 million a year in fees and profits.
Read more: www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2016/02/11/lawmakers-criticizing-prison-health-contract/80260250/
Sen. Greg Evers, chairman of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, said Thursday he was surprised to learn of the contract with Centurion of Florida, which the agency entered into two weeks ago after its current vendor, Corizon Healthcare, walked out early on its five-year contract.
Centurion will be paid a maximum of $267.9 million a year to provide health care to 82 percent of the state’s inmates in prisons throughout Central and North Florida, including the Big Bend, where Corizon operates for now.
The “cost-plus” contract pays the company for its actual costs, like salaries and benefits, and gives it an additional payment of 13.5 percent of its costs, for overhead and profit. Though the agency says it’s unlikely to happen, Centurion could get more than $30 million a year in fees and profits.
Read more: www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2016/02/11/lawmakers-criticizing-prison-health-contract/80260250/