Lawsuit: County owes Alta Vista $2.6M for inmate health care
Alta Vista Regional Hospital is seeking payment of more than $2.6 million from San Miguel County for health care services provided to incarcerated inmates at the San Miguel County Detention Center. The county denies it owes that amount, and asserts it shouldn’t be billed for inmates’ health care at all, according to documents filed in the Fourth Judicial District Court.
The county has for years been transporting inmates to Alta Vista for health care, and Alta Vista has been billing the county for those services. However, in the suit filed Dec. 8 and served to the county Jan 5, Alta Vista alleges it has made multiple attempts to collect overdue payments, but the county has so far failed to pay for services provided to inmates.
Alta Vista asserts that the amount owed by the county now exceeds $2.6 million, and that despite the outstanding balance, the county continues to bring inmates to Alta Vista for health care services — services Alta Vista continues to provide and then bill the county for, according to the suit.
San Miguel County, Alta Vista alleges, has said it is not responsible for the cost of health care provided to inmates. Alta Vista further alleges the county asked Alta Vista to seek payment directly from the inmates who received medical care, or to seek payment from “other sources,” according to the lawsuit.
Alta Vista is now asking the court for a declaratory judgment, a court-issued judgment that determines the rights of parties without awarding financial damages.
In the suit, Alta Vista stated it believes that, under New Mexico law, the county has an obligation to pay the medical expenses of inmates in custody, and that when the county seeks medical care from a third party on behalf of an individual in custody — such as a hospital — the county is responsible for payment of that medical care.
While the county and Alta Vista do not have a written contract, the suit argues an implied contract is created whenever the county requests medical services on behalf of an inmate in custody. Alta Vista says the county has breached those contracts by refusing to pay for services rendered.
San Miguel County, through its lawyer, responded to the lawsuit on Jan. 14. In a response filed in District Court, the county outright denies many of the allegations made in the lawsuit, and said it didn’t have “sufficient information” about many other allegations made to admit to or deny them.
Specifically, the county denies that it owes $2.6 million. It also denies it is responsible for the costs of health care provided to inmates by third-party providers. The county argues that a contract is not created simply because Alta Vista provides medical care to an inmate in county custody. The county, therefore, denies it breached any contract.
“(The) county affirmatively states that there is no contractual agreement between it and the plaintiff for the provision of medical services to inmates in the county’s custody,” San Miguel County’s response stated. “As a result, there may not be any legal obligation for the county to pay for treatment to those inmates.”
The county also accuses Alta Vista of acting under the “unclean hands” doctrine, a legal defense that alleges the plaintiff is acting unethically or in bad faith, and further argues that Alta Vista may not be entitled to legal action because of statutes of limitations.
In a separate filing, the county asked for a trial before a 12-person jury. A date for that trial had not been set as of this writing.
Attorneys for Alta Vista and San Miguel County did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, Alta Vista CEO Caleb O’Rear told the Optic that Alta Vista values its relationship with San Miguel County, but said he could not comment on pending litigation.
