Appalachian health system sues EKY county over $3M in unpaid psychiatric care
An Appalachian regional nonprofit health system is suing one Eastern Kentucky county for more than $3 million in unpaid psychiatric medical care it says it provided inmates at the county jail dating back nearly five years.
Appalachian Regional Healthcare, headquartered in Hazard and operating 14 hospitals across Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia, filed suit against Pike County and Jailer Brian Morris in December. Summons in the dispute were delayed until earlier this month.
The regional health care chain claims Pike County and the jail breached an implied contract and received unjust enrichment by failing to pay a total of 93 inpatient psychiatric medical bills from March 2021 to September 2025.
The company says the Pike County Detention Center has paid previous invoices, which established an agreement through the dealings and is enforceable as a contract under Kentucky law. Despite repeated demands, ARH says the county has refused to pay the remaining balances, however.
Morris said he has not yet had an opportunity to investigate the claims, but he believes the individuals who were treated by ARH professionals were no longer in custody nor prisoners at that time. That was communicated to the company before it initiated the lawsuit, he said.
“To date, it is my understanding that we have received no proof of these claims outside of a demand for payment by ARH,” he said. “I am also not sure at this time if ARH ever attempted to properly bill these individuals’ health insurance providers prior to making these claims.”
Under Kentucky law, “the cost of providing necessary medical, dental, and psychological care for indigent prisoners in the jail shall be paid from the jail budget.” Inmates are not to be considered medically indigent if they are actively covered by a medical insurance policy.
Morris said he is investigating the matter because the detention center hasn’t paid ARH for other treatment during or after the 2021-25 period for which the company claims the county is delinquent.
“I cannot justify or support the payment of Pike County citizens’ tax dollars to ARH or any other entity without some proof being provided that these monies are rightly owed,” he said.
ARH did not immediately respond to a Herald-Leader request for comment Thursday.
Morris, a former Pike County deputy judge-executive, is in a tight primary race to decide who replaces Judge-Executive Ray Jones in 2027.
Appointed jailer in late 2017 after former Jailer Freddie Lewis resigned, Morris won a crowded Democratic primary in 2018 and secured the post for another four years in that year’s general election. In 2022, he ran unopposed.
Late last year, Morris dropped out of his third Pike County jailer race to run for judge-executive as a Republican shortly after Pike County Schools Superintendent Reed Adkins exited the race. Morris faces attorney Suzy Gibson Shearer, who is also a Republican.
