(The Center Square) – With a vote scheduled for Tuesday, Spokane County is preparing to transition to a new medical provider at the downtown jail as the current company faces lawsuits across the country.
If approved, MEDIKO Correctional Healthcare will replace NaphCare in February 2026 after the outgoing provider had agreed to stay on temporarily through the transition. The current contract would’ve gone through 2028, but NaphCare told the Board of County Commissioners in June it planned to leave early.
The company has faced multiple multi-million-dollar lawsuits over the last few years, with at least two tied to Spokane County filed in federal court since the month began. Meanwhile, NaphCare says it’s never faced a negative judgement in court and has contracts in Nisqually, King County and Cowlitz County.
A lawsuit filed on Dec. 2 concerns the death of Spencer Wirth, citing the case of Cindy Lou Hill, whose death in the same Spokane County Jail in 2018 resulted in a nearly $27 million jury verdict against NaphCare and the county.
NaphCare did not respond to The Center Square’s requests for comment before publishing on Monday.
The board allowed Spokane County Detention Services to enter negotiations with MEDIKO in September after it scored the highest in a request for proposals last summer. Its services include medical, dental, pharmaceutical, case management/discharge planning, quality assurance, 24/7 telehealth, alcohol and opioid withdrawal and electronic medical record tracking, according to a SCDS presentation last week.
Local taxpayers currently pay NaphCare $14.78 million annually, which would increase 35% to $22.63 million in 2026 under the current provider’s demands. In contrast, Spokane would spend only $15.79 million on MEDIKO’s contract in the first year, rising about 3% annually thereafter for up to eight years.
Laura McElroy, a communications strategist for MEDIKO, told The Center Square that a comprehensive transition plan is already in place. The providers will start training new employees and those retained from Naphcare two weeks before the contract starts on MEDIKO’s policies and procedures, the medical record system, nursing guidelines and other topics. The county will retain oversight of mental health.
“MEDIKO is the only correctional healthcare company that does proactive training before the contract begins,” McElroy told The Center Square. “MEDIKO will deploy a team of over 61 full-time equivalents.”
Dr. Kaveh Ofogh, founder and CEO of MEDIKO Correctional Healthcare, spoke with The Center Square shortly after landing in Spokane on Monday. He said increased staffing is one of the main factors that sets MEDIKO apart from others, and plans to increase the county jail’s medical staff by about 10 FTEs.
If approved, Spokane County will be Ofogh’s fourth contract along the West Coast, with three others in Washington state and one in California. He said the states’ willingness to fund health care was one of the main attractions. Ofogh terminated contracts in other states after counties contracting with MEDIKO reduced staff funding, which he said put patient care at risk, something central to his philosophy.
Ofogh started MEDIKO in 1996 as a one-man team. Nearly three decades later, and he says the courts still haven’t issued a judgment against his company despite dozens of lawsuits over the years. Ofogh said his philosophy centers on providing medically-driven care, not increasing profits like competitors.
“I treat these inmates as my patients,” Ofogh said. “I don’t cut corners, I don’t take shortcuts, I don’t become creative to cross the line to save money that may damage the individual’s health and that is the reason that MEDIKO is the only company in the nation that has been in business for nearly 30 years under same name and same ownership that has not had a single judgment in this highly litigious environment of correctional medicine.”
