Mecklenburg County jail will get new health care provider after contract ends early

People jailed at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center will get their health care from a new company next month.

Kansas-based VitalCore Health Strategies will care for people starting May 19, the sheriff’s office said in a news release Monday. The jail’s current medical provider, Wellpath, recently terminated a $10.66 million contract to work in the jail.

VitalCore won out against five other companies who submitted proposals, according to the news release.

“We are excited to embark on this relationship with VitalCore Health Strategies,” Sheriff Garry McFadden said in a statement. “This collaboration is a shared partnership. VitalCore’s CEO, Viola Riggin shares our passion for changing the culture and philosophy within our detention center.”

A contract has not been signed yet, sheriff’s office spokesperson Bradley Smith said in an email Tuesday.

VitalCore is being sued in federal court by the Delaware ACLU. A court complaint alleges that staff have provided poor medical care in the state’s prisons since July, when they took over there.

It’s not uncommon for jail and prison health care providers to land in legal trouble.

McFadden said in a statement: “Without speaking to the merits of the claims against VitalCore Health Strategies in Delaware, or any other lawsuits against VitalCore Health Strategies, or any of the other vendors who submitted proposals, it is an unfortunate reality that any correctional healthcare provider with the experience necessary to staff Detention Center-Central will have been sued on multiple occasions.”

The sheriff said he required companies who wanted to work in the jail to share any lawsuits that they had lost or settled over the last five years, as well as any pending lawsuits. He learned about the Delaware ACLU lawsuit through that process, he said.

He noted that a different medical company worked with those prisons until about three months before the lawsuit was filed. And the lawsuit came three years after allegations of mistreatment began under a different company, he said.

In February, The Charlotte Observer reported how Wellpath has a history of being sued by families of people who died or were hurt in North Carolina facilities. Wellpath often ends those lawsuits by settling them, the Observer found in reviewing state and federal court records.