As if monkeypox, a Jackson water crisis, and a nascent medical cannabis program weren’t problems enough! At a recent gathering of the Board of Health, our new State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney revealed that six Delta hospitals are in dire circumstances, and no one on the horizon is coming to their rescue. Four other hospitals elsewhere in the state face imminent closure. Greenwood-Leflore Hospital’s anticipated lease with UMMC did not work out, the state’s only burn center has closed, and services such as neonatal and obstetrical care are fast disappearing from rural areas. Mississippi may be confronting the worst health care crisis in its history, a crisis that could darken the medical landscape for generations.
The financial condition of our state’s hospitals in this post-pandemic period is extraordinarily precarious. The basic problem is not enough money. Timothy H. Moore, the President/CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association, told me, “As an aggregate we find hospitals across our state in the most subdued financial position in history. The hospital industry was in a critical state prior to the COVID pandemic. The inflationary burden of the pandemic evidenced in supplies, materials, pharmaceuticals, and labor exacerbated the crisis to a never-before-seen level . . . In any business model when the cost to produce a product exceeds payment for that product, the business model fails.” Moore has said elsewhere that even Medicaid expansion would not solve the problem as Mississippi hospitals, many on the brink of financial ruin, cannot afford to cover the state’s share.
What are possible solutions? According to Moore, “Revenue and cash flow are the immediate issues . . . The Division of Medicaid is working on a state plan amendment to adjust the current supplemental model. That will provide some assistance in replacing revenue needed to cover the cost of care. . . Other potential solutions are working with the Legislature to waive the hospital tax for two to three years. . . and creating Rural Access Payments for our fragile rural hospitals.” All of our hospitals have different needs. Revenue streams are drying up for them all. Permanent solutions must be multipronged, involving both state and national investment in a new payment model. Mississippi must reimagine how our medical landscape is financed, or access to basic health care will vanish.
Contact me at drluciuslampton@gmail.com. — Lucius M. Lampton, MD, Editor