Bernalillo County boots health contractor at jail and brings addiction care in-house

Bernalillo County ended a contract with Wellness Equity Alliance for addiction treatment at the Metropolitan Detention Center, according to an August letter obtained by the Journal on Wednesday.

The county's CARE campus, which already runs a detox facility, will take over supplemental addiction treatment at the jail on top of the care University of New Mexico Hospital already provides, said county spokesperson Tia Bland.

CARE campus staff will provide individual and group counseling, as well as treatment, Bland said.

The cancellation comes after an audit found that WEA's mobile health clinic, Health Yeah!, which provided health care services for several middle schools, didn't comply with federal regulations.

WEA "vehemently denies" the claims made in the Health Yeah! audit and maintain that the program they ran at MDC was never audited at all, said Marsha Zimmerman, the chief development officer for WEA.

"It's very disappointing," Zimmerman said. "It feels unfair to the people in that program. Not only do they suffer, but the taxpayers suffer because they're paying for them to be in jail longer."

The Addiction Treatment Program is typically court-ordered, meaning inmates stay in jail until they complete the program, even if they have to wait weeks for a spot to open up.

The jail has historically had a waiting list for inmates to receive addiction treatment. Zimmerman said that WEA helped bring down wait times "from months to weeks."

County officials did not comment on whether bringing the program in-house is expected to change wait times.

Tyler Evans, the organization’s chief medical officer, said that WEA also handled re-entry care, making sure formerly incarcerated people have what they need to continue treatment on the outside.

"We thought it was really irresponsible of the county to sever this without a plan," Evans said.

Officials at MDC declined to comment.

WEA's contract will formally end on Tuesday and will be transferred to CARE campus staff.