Capstone emerges as key state contractor for COVID-19 testing
A Wasilla clinic owned primarily by a doctor who was arguing a little more than a month ago that young healthy people should deliberately get COVID-19 to build “herd immunity” has emerged as a key state contractor in delivering COVID-19 tests in Alaska,
Capstone Family Medicine, a business owned by Dr. Wade Erickson, has received at least four state contracts totaling more than $2.7 million. The total will grow following a decision announced last week to have Capstone screen incoming passengers at the Anchorage airport.
Erickson, who gave $500 to the Dunleavy shadow campaign in 2018, is a supporter of Republican candidates. He gave $2,500 to the GOP in 2018 and he and his wife each gave $500 to Sen. Shelley Hughes early this year.
The key person on the contract paperwork is not Erickson, however, but Daniel Spencer, CEO of the company, which has 15 health care providers, with operations in Wasilla, Palmer, Kenai, Eagle River and Anchorage.
The state released the contracts under a public records request I made May 20. It appears that Capstone’s most recent work for the state, to screen passengers at the Anchorage airport, is covered in a contract revision signed after my public records request.
On Wednesday, health commissioner Adam Crum said the state planned to expand its Capstone contract to screen industry workers at the Anchorage airport so that the company will also test other travelers to the state.
“This infrastructure has been in place for a couple weeks now and now we’re just going to be expanding the scope of this,” he said.
As of a month ago, Capstone had already screened more than 20,000 people at various sites and given more than 1,000 COVID-19 tests, Spencer wrote the state contracting office May 11.
Spencer told Alaska Public Media the company will have 58 people working 12-hour shifts at the airport to screen passengers who need tests.
“In Anchorage, greeters will direct travelers to areas in the terminal where they hand in their declaration forms, Spencer said. Staff will also review testing results and provide testing if needed. Spencer didn’t have an estimate Friday for how long it will take someone to go through the process. It was too soon, he said,” Alaska Public Media reported.
The first contract, based on a proposal Capstone made to the state March 30, was approved April 2.It is for $299,358, to run the Palmer testing facility until Oct. 2.
A second contract, based on a proposal from Capstone April 10, was signed April 12, for work that began April 10. That contract, also for $299,358, is for the operation of the Wasilla testing site for COVID-19. But the appendix to the contract says it is for the Palmer testing site. This may be a copying error.
It appears that most of the state cost is to cover 50 percent of the staffing expenses for Capstone. The company said it would continue to bill insurance companies if possible, “for care they should be covering.”
In its proposal, Capstone had asked “the state’s consideration in funding the Palmer Temporary Treatment Facility for respiratory illness evaluation and treatment and that the state assist us in covering the costs of the existing location in Wasilla already in operation.”
A third contract, this one for $527,388, is for the Dillingham testing site. It was submitted by the company May 13 and signed the same day, running to the end of August.
“We recommend all fishery personnel are screened upon arrival into the Region. This screening would be coordinated using an web based store and forward App that compiles individual demographic, screening and testing results based on a QR coded bracelet,” Capstone said in its May 10 proposal.
“After arrival to the region and during the quarantine, while awaiting test results, Boat yards will monitor for presence of the bracelets to ensure all personnel on the property are wearing the bracelet. We recommend that only captains are allowed to roam the grounds while their boat is in dry dock. We recommend that Boat yards take special mitigation procedures to ensure the cleanliness and access to the bathrooms are in compliance with Health Mandate #1. We recommend that boats be placed in the water as soon as possible after seaworthiness is assured.”
A fourth contract, for $1,573,508, was submitted and signed May 15 to handle the testing site at Anchorage International Airport until Aug. 31. This was to test firefighters and fisheries workers and others.
The proposal described a situation in which incoming passengers would be screened and given a bracelet with a “quick response” barcode.
The proposal was based on having up eight techs per shift, testing up to 200 people a day during the peak of fishing and fire activity. It did not include payments for testing regular tourist traffic to Alaska, work for which the contract has been expanded by an unknown amount.
A similar contract, to test firefighters and others at the Fairbanks airport, was signed with Beacon. for $281,650. Crum said Beacon’s work would also be expanded to provide tests to travelers flying to Fairbanks.