Jan. 9—HENDERSON — Soon after the start of the new year, Vance County's sheriff signed a contract with a new health care provider who will help take care of the medical needs of prisoners in the county jail.

The deal with Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc. went into effect shortly after midnight on Monday and will remain in effect at least through the summer of 2025.

Sheriff Curtis Brame signed the contract on Jan. 3, in the process agreeing to pay the Tennessee-based company $462,486 a year for its services to start. The deal includes a provision giving the company a surcharge if the jail averages more than 129 prisoners a day, and another that promises payment increases of at least 3% a year as a hedge against inflation.

The signing put an end to the temporary arrangements that have been in place since last fall, when the jail's former health care provider, Southern Health Partners, terminated its $354,840 contract with the sheriff's office on two weeks' notice.

Southern Health cited "safety and liability concerns" as the reasons for its decision, and before giving notice had complained that the jail's commander was interfering in medical decisions about sending prisoners off site for medical care.

County officials, meanwhile, said they had heard of "a perception of safety issues at the jail," as County Manager Jordan McMillen put it in a letter to Southern Health's regional sales manager.

A Charlotte-based provider, StarMed Healthcare, has been filing in since Southern Health left on Oct. 14. County officials have indicated the firm would receive about $350,000 for its 87 days of work.

The new contract specifies that Advanced Correctional Healthcare policy is to give its nurses and other professionals the freedom to "provide care without limitation by approval process for outside care" of prisoners."

But the deal also says "each situation should be addressed on a case-by-case basis," and noted that ACH "does not have standing orders." Company and sheriff's office representatives will meet monthly to "discuss and develop the process, means, transportation and other matters related to the use of off-site services."

As did its predecessor, the contract also includes a provision obligating the sheriff to "provide security sufficient" for nurses to do their work, and it gives ACH the right to raise any concerns on that front in writing.

But it doesn't include a blanket out clause giving the company the right to terminate the deal on short notice over security concerns. Southern Health's did, but ACH's gives it the right to end the contract on 120 days' notice for any reason it sees fit. The sheriff, meanwhile, can terminate the contract immediately if funding for the program runs out.

The inflation escalator is more generous than the one Southern Health received in the summer of 2022, which was for a flat 3%. Advanced Correctional Healthcare will get at least that, and maybe more. Its escalator is the lower of 3% or the U.S. consumer price index for hospital and related services, which according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has risen about 3.2% in the past year.

Contact Ray Gronberg at rgronberg@hendersondispatch.com or by phone at 252-436-2850.