DOC health contract with Wellpath nears renewal as Medicaid reentry waiver goes live

Haley Summer, director of communications for the Vermont Department of Corrections, briefed the Senate Institutions committee on the department’s health services contract and population health statistics on Feb. 18.

Summer said the DOC contracts with Wellpath to provide comprehensive on-site and off-site health services in corrections facilities. “The contract began 07/01/2023, and it’s a three-year contract,” she said, adding there are two optional one-year extensions available under the current arrangement. The contract is structured around the National Commission on Correctional Health Care standards and Vermont care standards, Summer said.

Summer provided high-level health statistics for the population in custody: about 95% receive at least one medication with an average of five medications per individual; roughly 42% receive psychotropic medications and 56% receive medication for opioid use disorder; about 77% have a chronic illness diagnosis; and Summer said there were 756 emergency department visits facilitated in 2025. She also noted that, within corrections, the department considers people 55 and older to be geriatric because of the accelerated aging seen in correctional health.

Committee members asked how the department monitors contractor performance. Summer said that the contract includes public performance measures and that the DOC could withhold payments when standards are not met, though she said the department had not yet taken action to withhold payments. She recommended inviting Wellpath and health-services staff to a future oversight hearing for more detailed questions from the committee.

Senators pressed on dental access. Summer acknowledged past hiring challenges for correctional dentists and said DOC had used a regional model that sometimes required transfers or appointments at different facilities; she said dental-backlog data were provided after a prior joint oversight hearing and that the backlog has decreased but the department can provide updated numbers.

Summer also described a recently launched Medicaid reentry initiative under an 1115 waiver. The waiver, which went live Jan. 1, allows Medicaid to be reactivated 90 days before a person’s release and pairs that benefit with reentry care coordination provided through the Vermont Chronic Care Initiative. Summer said peer-support services under the reentry program are planned to begin in 2027.

Committee members urged DOC to make trend and patient-satisfaction survey data available; Summer said surveys are publicly posted and agreed to provide updated results and trend lines back to the committee.

No formal procurement decision was made during the briefing; committee members asked DOC to follow up with details and to consider bringing Wellpath representatives to a future session.