Myth versus Fact – Wexford Health Sources Incorporated

from YellowhammerNews.com:

MYTH:“Wexford is one of a dozen companies that the state of Mississippi has sued for its alleged involvement in a bribery scheme.”	FACTS:The State of Mississippi is suing every company the Mississippi Department of Corrections did business with during the tenure of former Commissioner Christopher Epps. The State is alleging that Wexford Health “should have known” that a former consultant we used was—as a result of pressure from Commissioner Epps—forced to split his consulting fees with the now disgraced Commissioner. It was actually the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi—not the Mississippi Attorney General’s office—that discovered, investigated, and prosecuted those involved in wrongdoing. At the conclusion of its extensive multi-year investigation, the federal government determined that a number of companies and/or individuals had engaged in wrongdoing. The feds criminally prosecuted more than ten such individuals, all of whom are now serving time in federal penitentiaries. Significantly, that extensive investigation found that Wexford Health was engaged in no wrongdoing, and was ignorant of the fact that our former consultant was being extorted by Commissioner Epps for a portion of his consulting fees.
MYTH:“Wexford has been sued by the Mississippi attorney general, who is asking the company to repay $294 million it allegedly gained as a participant in a bribery scandal that led to criminal charges against Mississippi’s former prison commissioner and a former consultant for Wexford”	FACTS:While the AG’s lawsuit does seek to recover the money the State of Mississippi paid to Wexford Health during Commissioner Epps’ tenure, it does not allege that Wexford Health actively participated in paying kickbacks. It simply alleges that we “should have known” that our former consultant was secretly sharing a portion of his fees with Epps. The AG is not disputing that the consultant’s payments to Epps occurred after the State had already awarded Wexford Health our contract. Furthermore, there is no suggestion that Wexford Health’s contract award was the product of a bribe. Again, it was not the Mississippi AG but the US Attorney’s Office (with the assistance of the FBI) that brought the charges against Commissioner Epps and the others convicted of wrongdoing. Wexford Health cooperated fully with the federal government throughout the investigation—which cleared Wexford Health of any wrongdoing.
MYTH:“From the beginning, sources close to this process have told APR the fear has been that Wexford would submit a “lowball” bid to get Alabama’s business – and then try to bump up the price later to meet minimum standards for care.”	FACTS:Commissioner Dunn has said publicly: “The RFP review committee conducted an extensive examination of each company’s proposal, and recommended ADOC to proceed to contract negotiations with Wexford Health based on a combination of quality of care and overall cost.” (emphasis added) No pricing information has been released by the Evaluation Committee, so this myth is based on sheer speculation.
MYTH:“The attorney general’s lawsuit directly accuses the company of having a “backroom” relationship with the state’s former prison commissioner, funneling bribes and kickbacks to him through a consultant.”	FACTS:The lawsuit is filled with unsupported allegations made by attorneys who are working on a contingent fee arrangement with the State of Mississippi. Allegations mean nothing. Facts mean everything. And the fact is that while multiple other individuals and companies have been indicted, the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office have not accused Wexford Health of any wrongdoing. Wexford Health properly disclosed and reported all monies we paid to our Mississippi consultant. The State concedes this was not some situation where we were handing over a bag stuffed with cash. Instead, the case alleges that Wexford Health “should have known” what our former consultant was doing; and that because the consultant was our agent, Wexford Health is guilty of his wrongdoing—despite the fact that we had no direct knowledge of the arrangement between Commissioner Epps and the consultant

from AlabamaPoliticalReporter.com:

MYTH:“Wexford lobbying efforts are paying big dividends for someone other than the state,” one source said.”	FACTS:Totally false. It is literally impossible for this “source” to have been correct, since Wexford Health did not retain a lobbyist until after receiving the contract award. In fact, we were the only major bidder not to have a lobbyist in place during the solicitation process.
MYTH:“Insiders say Wexford was selected because they are the lowest bidder among the companies seeking to make court-ordered changes to mental health care for the prison population.”	FACTS:This is pure speculation. The Alabama Department of Corrections has not released any information regarding the pricing or scoring for the inmate health care contract. However, ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn has said the decision to select Wexford Health was based on the company’s ability to provide quality care at a reasonable price.
MYTH:“Alabama officials who are considering turning over prison health care to Wexford have ignored the many issues with the firm’s conduct since taking over Indiana’s contract earlier this year.”	FACTS:The Indiana Department of Corrections is well pleased with Wexford Health’s work under the contract, due to our transparency, responsiveness, and commitment to follow through on what we say we will do.
MYTH:“More than 8,000 doses of a frequently abused pain medication are missing from an Indiana prison.”	FACTS:Grossly overstated. About 1,300 doses are missing as a result of a security breach.
MYTH:“Physician and expert on correctional medical care, Ronald Shansky, told the (Indianapolis) Star that the medication should have been under double lock and key, preventing offenders from even accessing the area where the drugs were kept.”	FACTS:Gabapentin is not an opioid and is not designated a controlled substance by federal authorities. It was stored correctly and in accordance with all applicable standards and requirements under the law.
MYTH:“The Indiana Department of Corrections has opened an investigation, which may put Wexford in the middle of yet another prison inquiry.”	FACTS:Incorrect. The Indiana Department of Corrections completed a security investigation into the incident.
MYTH:“Wexford is the only firm of the three [Alabama bidders] that is currently the subject of a lawsuit claiming kickbacks to a prison commissioner to retain a lucrative contract.”	FACTS:Even a casual examination of the AG’s unsupported Complaint and Wexford Health’s related Mississippi contracts will show that our former consultant did not allegedly begin to share consulting fees with Commissioner Epps until after the State had awarded the contract to us. There is absolutely no support or suggestion that Wexford Health did anything to procure the contract outside of the State’s legitimate competitive bidding process. More importantly, the records in this matter show that Wexford Health fully delivered on our contractual obligations to the State of Mississippi, providing services over and above what was required in our agreement. We have no knowledge regarding whether any of the other Alabama bidders are the subject of any investigations in any states. However, if our competitors should ever unfortunately find themselves in a position similar to the Mississippi suit, Wexford Health hopes that they, too, would correctly point out that allegations mean absolutely nothing. Any thoughtful analysis of the Mississippi dispute leads to the inescapable conclusion that it is far more likely the US Attorney and FBI got it right, rather than an outside team of contingent fee lawyers hired by the State.
MYTH:“And none of this takes into account the lawsuit filed by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood against several companies and individuals, including Wexford, for engaging in a series bribes, kickbacks and payoffs to former Prison Commissioner Chris Epps.”	FACTS:This is far from correct. Wexford Health cooperated fully with Alabama officials about the company’s alleged role in Mississippi’s Epps scandal. While the Evaluation Committee might have originally had some concerns about the Mississippi lawsuit, Wexford Health understands that Alabama state officials reached the same logical conclusion suggested above: that it is far more likely the US Attorney and FBI investigations—which cleared Wexford Health of any wrongdoing—are more accurate than the unsupported, unsworn allegations of the external contingent fee counsel hired by the State of Mississippi to pursue the AG’s litigation.
MYTH:“In Indiana, records obtained by Alabama Political Reporter show that Wexford is falling short of required staffing levels, particularly in the area of mental and behavioral health care, which is a big problem area in Alabama. Wexford’s staff shortfalls also have led to backlogs in providing care, especially with regard to prisoners with chronic medical conditions, including diabetes and HIV.”	FACTS:The State of Indiana reports it has not received any Open Records requests, raising concerns about how AlabamaPoliticalReporter.com obtained the records it claims it has. In any event, Wexford Health assumed responsibility in Indiana less than a year ago, and inherited signficiant staffing vacancies and backlog from the previous provider in Indiana: Corizon. Interestingly, Corizon is also an advertiser of AlabamaPoliticalReporter.com.
MYTH:“Wexford’s history in Indiana seems to validate those concerns. It significantly underbid other competitors to win the Indiana contract – which had previously been held by Corizon, but it is so far falling short of providing the level of services required in its agreement with the state.”	FACTS:Not true. The Indiana Request For Proposals had a ceiling dollar amount in it that bidders were supposed to meet (or they lost price scoring points). And again, Indiana is very happy with the steady progress we are making with cleaning up the many issues we inherited from Corizon.
MYTH:“Currently, there is question as to if Wexford can meet the performance bond required by Alabama. Insiders are saying the state is considering lowering the bond for Wexford in order to keep their bid in play.”	FACTS:Simply not true. Wexford Health can and will meet the performance bond requirement.
MYTH:“Wexford has failed to deliver on its obligation in Illinois, where it vowed to help that state emerge from federal court supervision.”	FACTS:Wexford Health is indeed delivering on our obligations in Illinois, as Illinois Department of Corrections Director John Baldwin has made clear. Over the past two years, despite significant recruitment challenges, we have increased mental health staff in the Illinois prisons by 65%, adding 143 more positions to our team. We have expanded offender mental health programming, helping to realize a 45% reduction in segregation (solitary confinement) time. And the opening of a large new residential treatment center in Joliet is providing increased treatment capacity for seriously mentally ill offenders. Residential treatment centers are also open at the Logan and Dixon correctional centers.
MYTH:“In neighboring Indiana, Wexford appears to be repeating the same pattern and practice, not unlike what it did in Illinois, where a court monitor cited ‘grossly insufficient and extremely poor quality of psychiatric services.’”	FACTS:Not true. We are correcting the ineffective patterns and practices we inherited from the preceding vendor. When we began work for Indiana, staffing levels were only in the high 70% range. We also inherited a number of staff with significant performance issues, resulting in additional vacancies. Despite these challenges, we have increased the fill rate to 90%, with an overall coverage rate (including PRN, overtime and temporary staff) of more than 94%. We have more than 93% of the Indiana DOC Psychiatry positions hired, after a long period of a 100% fill rate. We also inherited 1,310 backlogs when we took over in April 2017. As of December 2017, Wexford Health had decreased that number to only 37. That is a 97% decrease in patient backlogs. We have zero Psychiatry backlogs.
MYTH:“But sources continue to express concerns that Wexford has the inside track for the job because it has submitted a ‘lowball’ bid that looks good on paper but won’t be sufficient to live up to Judge Thompson’s requirements.”	FACTS:Since neither the Evaluation Committee’s feedback nor pricing results have been released, this myth is nothing more than rumor. Commissioner Dunn has said publicly: “The RFP review committee conducted an extensive examination of each company’s proposal, and recommended ADOC to proceed to contract negotiations with Wexford Health based on a combination of quality of care and overall cost.” (emphasis added)