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Company trying to keep details of running psychiatric ward secret

FILE - This July 30, 2018 file photo shows the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center, formerly known as Bangor Mental Health Institute in Bangor, Maine. A Florida-based health care company that could receive a $60.3 million state contract to run a 21-bed

AUGUSTA, Maine — A company trying to secure a $60.3 million contract to run a 21-bed psychiatric facility in Maine is shrouding its proposal in secrecy.

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Correct Care, based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, told The Associated Press its staffing, list of current and closed lawsuits and cost proposals to run the facility are exempt public records because it contains trade secrets in a letter with a redacted version of the proposal.

"Taken together, the staffing, hiring and retention information of Correct Care is confidential, proprietary information developed at substantial expense by Correct Care," the company’s attorney James Healy wrote in a May 11 letter to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The company, which marked some parts of the proposal confidential, was told all submissions would be considered a part of the public record under state law.

The company did not respond to requests for an updated proposal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.