Alaska prisons seek contractor for mental health care, with video visits allowed in Nome, Bethel and Ketchikan

The Alaska Department of Corrections is looking for a contractor to provide mental health care at four prisons, citing continued staffing shortages. At three of them, in Nome, Bethel and Ketchikan, much of that care could come by video.

The four prisons can hold up to 928 people: Anvil Mountain Correctional Center in Nome, Yukon-Kuskokwim Correctional Center in Bethel, Ketchikan Correctional Center and Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward. Statewide, the department says it admits about 28,000 people a year and holds about 4,500 on any given day.

Contract clinicians would screen people when they're booked, respond to crises, lead therapy groups, check weekly on people held in isolation and train staff in suicide prevention.

Only Spring Creek, the largest of the four with 535 beds and a unit for people who need ongoing psychiatric care, would be required to have clinicians on site every weekday. At the other three, a contractor could combine video visits with in-person care, as long as a clinician visits in person at least once a month. The department calls telehealth "essential for servicing rural facilities that are not accessible via the road system."

The solicitation is inconsistent on who may provide the care. One section says clinicians must be licensed. Another says a license is preferred, sets a master's degree as the minimum and says the department will not provide supervision toward licensure.

The department has not said how much it expects to spend. It says it has a limited budget, that negotiations may be necessary and that any contract depends on money from the Legislature. Price counts for 40% of a bidder's score, and Alaska bidders get a preference worth another 10%. The department can end a contractor's work on 30 days' notice, including when it fills a vacancy with its own staff.

The contract also overlaps with a statewide solicitation the department issued Sept. 24 for all 13 of its facilities, including these four, which anticipates two to four contracts and 21 full-time clinicians. Neither document says how the two would divide these prisons.

Proposals are due Oct. 28. The department expects to award the contract in November, with work starting around Jan. 1. It could be renewed for up to three more years, into 2030.