The Maryland Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to nix an emergency modification to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services’ health care contract that would have tacked an additional 30% onto the state’s monthly fee for unspecified COVID-19 costs.
Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) said that the state has a statutory obligation, but “also a moral imperative, frankly, to ensure the safety and well being of the inmates that are under our care.”
He made clear that his concern was not about the price tag, but the lack of accountability.
“I guess the concern here is that we’re simply reimbursing this company for its own failures as far as implementing the contract that they signed to and agreed,” Franchot said to the board, “and there we are paying extra money and attributing it to COVID-19.”
In early April, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Robert L. Green entered into an emergency contract with the department’s medical provider, Corizon, to the tune of $3.2 million per month. This additional funding was intended to account for a 30% increase to their monthly fee to account for additional staffing, overtime, personal protective equipment, testing materials and other medical supplies.
Click here to read the rest fo the article written by Hannah Gaskill over at Maryland Matters