The Executive Council approved a two-year, $52 million contract to hire a management firm to help with running Hampstead Hospital. The state is completing negotiations to buy the privately-owned complex and expand it to provide psychiatric treatment for youth with mental health conditions.
The Executive Council approved a two-year, $52 million contract to hire a management firm to help with running Hampstead Hospital. The state is completing negotiations to buy the privately-owned complex and expand it to provide psychiatric treatment for youth with mental health conditions.
CONCORD — The Executive Council unanimously approved Wednesday a two-year, $52 million contract for a private company to manage Hampstead Hospital once the state purchases it to expand mental-health services for at-risk youth.
The decision came after Attorney General John Formella assured the Republican-led council that the vendor, Wellpath Recovery Solutions LLC, has a satisfactory track record and the state would provide adequate oversight of its work.
The National Alliance for Mental Illness, along with leaders of the Disability Rights Center-NH, New Futures and New Hampshire Legal Assistance, urged the council to consider other contractors or create tighter regulations over the contract.
But in a six-page letter, Formella said his staff had reviewed Wellpath’s past and said the vendor is capable of doing the job well.
“The media reports and the concerns regarding Wellpath sound troubling, but a deeper analysis of more analogous treatment milieus indicates that Wellpath does not pose any unusually high risk of litigation or substantial risk to the future children and young adult patients at Hampstead Hospital,” Formella wrote.
Last month, the council had voted to table the contract but on Wednesday councilors said the AG’s report satisfied their concerns.
“It’s clear to me that there is going to be more than adequate oversight,” said Councilor Janet Stevens, R-Rye.
Councilor Ted Gatsas, R-Manchester, urged state officials to keep the council informed as Wellpath prepares to take over management of the complex starting in October.
“My biggest concern is the company going in there has very little background with children. What I don’t want to see is a child getting abused and then we read it in the paper,” Gatsas said.
Number of lawsuits against vendor not unusual
In the AG’s report, Formella said the extent of lawsuits brought against Wellpath weren’t unusual given how many contracts it administers across the country.
“An analysis of Wellpath itself does not suggest unusually high amounts of litigation, based on our experience in defending similarly situated state facilities, or other red flags with regard to quality of care,” Formella added.
While Wellpath provides mental-health treatment for adults and for youth in juvenile detention centers, critics noted it does not run any facilities for youth who are not involved in the criminal justice system.
A spokeswoman for Wellpath, Judith Lilley, told the Union Leader that while Wellpath does not currently provide services for youth, it has provided services to youth in non-correctional settings, including in contracts with other states.
“While our current programs are focused on adult populations, we do accept adolescent referrals as appropriate and provide individualized, evidence-based, and age-appropriate treatment in each instance,” Lilley wrote in an emailed statement. “Previously, our work at Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API) included a Child & Adolescent Unit.”
Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette thanked Gatsas and the councilors for being open to approving the contract and vowed to ensure the quality of care there.
“We want to secure children services for our kids in our state long term,” Shibinette said. “I fully expect if this goes badly then we will hear bad things from you, councilor, and I accept that.”
The contract requires Wellpath to open 55 beds in Hampstead by October and another 10 beds by June 2023, with the total 65 beds including 12 beds for youth who no longer needed intensive inpatient treatment.
Shibinette said much of the existing management team at Hampstead Hospital will stay on board after the state purchase.
Last year, Hampstead only had open about 40 beds or just over a third of its capacity, in part due to the pandemic which required providing more space to the residents.
Shibinette has said she wants to more than double that occupancy over time.
