The state may be considering a change at Hampstead Hospital, two years after buying the youth mental health facility and tapping a private company to run it.
That company, Wellpath Recovery Solutions, has faced criticism over its handling of safety issues and the continued waitlists for youth mental health care.
Now, with the contract out to bid, state officials have indicated they prefer another vendor – Dartmouth Health – to Wellpath by most measures.
The state has not yet announced a final decision on the contract. But in a scoring sheet posted to a state website last month, a group of top officials at the Department of Health and Human Services ranked Dartmouth Health’s proposal above Wellpath’s in all but two categories, and gave it a higher overall score.
A spokesperson for the state health department declined to comment, saying details of the process are confidential until a contract goes to the Executive Council for review.
Dartmouth Health also provides staffing at the state psychiatric hospital in Concord.
The state bought Hampstead Hospital from private ownership in June 2022 with the goal of expanding psychiatric treatment for youth. At the time, New Hampshire was seeing a surge of children experiencing mental health crises.
The state’s choice of Wellpath to run the facility – in a no-bid contract – was controversial. Several youth- and mental health-focused advocacy groups raised concerns about picking a company whose experience was primarily in correctional settings and adult psychiatric facilities.
State officials have said Hampstead, under Wellpath’s management, has made it possible for children with more challenging mental health conditions to get treatment closer to home, rather than going out of state. They’ve also touted the opening of a new psychiatric residential treatment unit at Hampstead last year. That level of care that did not previously exist in New Hampshire.
But at times over the past year, the facility has faced questions about staff calling police to help deal with patient behavior. The number of available beds at Hampstead has also fallen well short of the number outlined in Wellpath’s contract, which called for it to have 65 beds up and running by now.
As of Friday morning, a total of 36 beds were in use, between the hospital and the residential treatment facility. Meanwhile, some children have continued to wait in emergency rooms for mental health beds to open up.
Jake Leon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the overall capacity has been lower because the facility is caring for higher-acuity patients, who require more attention from staff.
“As the acuity of the current population has changed, the census is ramping back up,” he said.
Dartmouth Health and Wellpath were the only organizations that bid on the new contract.
In reviewing their proposals, a group including Deputy Commissioner Morissa Henn and several top mental health officials rated Dartmouth Health more highly in terms of organizational capacity and staffing, training and workforce development, and performance monitoring and quality assurance, among other metrics.
Wellpath ranked higher on cost and “family and community engagement.” Wellpath’s bid for the three-year contract was $94.7 million, to Dartmouth Health’s $99.1 million.
“Dartmouth Health is pleased to have scored well,” Audra Burns, a spokesperson for the health system, said in a statement. “We are proud of the healthcare innovations and compassionate care we provide in communities throughout New Hampshire, including the specialized clinical leadership and psychiatric services at state-run facilities such as New Hampshire Hospital.”
She noted the decision will remain confidential until state officials make a recommendation to the Executive Council.
“We look forward to learning the outcome at that time,” she said.
A spokesperson for Wellpath, Teresa Koeberlein, said the company stepped in on a “short-term, emergency basis” to transition Hampstead to state ownership two years ago, and collaborated with the state to expand services and provide “evidence-based, trauma-informed care.”
“We are aware of the update posted related to the open procurement and will continue to work closely with DHHS to prioritize patient care, staff safety, and in the event of a transition to a new provider, ensure a seamless transition of services,” she said in a statement.