County OKs 5-Year Health Care Contract

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday approved a five-year contract with a private agency to provide health care services for inmates, an agreement expected to save the Sheriff’s Department more than $2 million over the life of the contract.

The board inked the long-term contract with Monterey-based California Forensic Medical Group to provide medical, dental and psychiatric outpatient services for inmates of the county jail, said Sheriff’s Lt. Geoff Dean. The contract is for $3.2 million a year.

The supervisors also approved a similar agreement for the Corrections Services Agency, which provides detention facilities for youths, Dean said. That contract is for $230,928 a year.

The Sheriff’s Department first contracted with the medical group in 1988 because it was able to provide services for less money than the county, Dean said. Since that time, the department has saved about $1 million, he said.

“We’re thrilled with them,” Dean said. “We were very careful to shop around. We wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck.”

Until now, the Sheriff’s Department has had a three-year contract with the medical group to provide services for more than 1,400 inmates. But Dean said the department was able to negotiate a better deal under a long-term contract, which would save $405,569 annually over the life of the agreement.

Under the new contract, the medical costs will be about $2,250 per inmate annually, officials said. This compares with $4,000 per inmate in Contra Costa County, which has about 1,200 inmates, and $5,800 in San Mateo County, with about 1,100 inmates.

“We’re both smart and lucky to have them,” Kathy McCann, a county analyst, said of California Forensic.