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The theme for the 2022 Restoration Summit, held every November at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, was “purposeful restoration.”

“We’re not doing random acts of restoration,” said Chris Wells, executive director at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

In watching the state’s years-long effort to spend the roughly $2 billion provided to it from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, stakeholders in the past have criticized Mississippi for not having a centralized game plan. Others questioned the state’s commitment to one of it’s purported top goals: improving water quality.

On Thursday evening, Wells addressed the former criticism head on while the state announced $65 million in new project spending between the RESTORE Act funds and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)..

“A lot of these projects seem disjointed, they’re not independent of each other, though,” he said of the state’s efforts thus far. “We do try to piece this puzzle together. We know what’s good for water quality is good for oysters and vice versa, building marsh habitat and leveraging different projects against each other, being able to take a holistic approach to things.”

One example MDEQ presented is the $50 million Hancock County Living Shoreline: Hoping to improve shipping infrastructure, the state dredged sediment from the channel at Port Bienville, and then used the sediment to rebuild 46 acres of new marsh to Heron Bay. MDEQ is planning to add more marsh to the area with dredged sediment from Bayou Caddy.

Similarly, MDEQ pointed to a group of projects in Bay St. Louis, including a 20-acre non-harvestable reef the Nature Conservancy built with the long-term goal of repopulating local oysters. The state also built in the bay a 1,600-foot line of breakwaters comprised of concrete rings, which give oysters a place to grow and helps reduce erosion.

The state, which has currently obligated $809.8 million of the $2 billion it’s set to receive, will continue to receive funds from the BP settlement until 2031.

A lot of the state’s environmental projects, such as rebuilding marsh and improving water quality, are long-term efforts that have taken longer to receive funds, while many of the state’s completed projects so far — such as an aquarium in Gulfport and a science center in Pearlington — are aimed at economic restoration.

In the last year, according to the state’s project tracker, the project seeing the most money in spending has been improving the runway at the Trent Lott International Airport in Moss Point, with $4.2 million in expenditures from 2021 to 2022. Other projects that saw large amounts of spending in the last year include:

• Infrastructure improvements at Port Bienville: $3.7 million
• Constructing living shorelines and reefs: $2.5 million
• Water quality improvement through upgrading storm water and wastewater systems: $2 million
• Using dredged materials to restore marsh: $1.3 million

New project spending announced Thursday between the RESTORE Act funds and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF):

RESTORE projects (Direct component, Bucket 1):

• Lowery Island Restoration ($4.4 million) — create a marina and mixed-use district.
• Pearl River Community College Hancock Aviation Aerospace Workforce Academy ($2.09 million) — purchase equipment to support the establishment of PRCC Aerospace Workforce Academy.
• The Kiln Utility District and Fire District Water and Sewer Expansion Project ($3 million) — expand water and sewer to support increased development.
• Highway 609 Washington Street Gateway Phase II ($5.5 million) — construct pedestrian friendly features including sidewalks, crosswalks, and landscaped median under Phase II from Old Fort Bayou to Highway 90.
• Trent Lott International Airport North Apron Expansion ($2.4 million) — expand the north apron of the Trent Lott International Airport.
• Magnificent Mile: I-10 Highwqy 63 Corridor Improvement ($5.5 million) — investment in road infrastructure to alleviate traffic congestion and encourage development.
• Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport Secondary Runway Extension ($2.2 million) — funding will expand the secondary runway.
• Port Bienville Railroad Intermodal Expansion ($3.3 million) — construction of a 7-track classification yard and the addition of a truck-to-rail intermodal facility expansion.

RESTORE projects (Spill impact component, Bucket 3):

• Jones Park Expansion Parking Areas ($1.65 million) — expand parking areas at Jones Park.
• Walter Anderson Museum of Art Creative Complex ($1.2 million) — provide funding for facility construction and new program implementation.
• Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Workforce Training ($4.95 million) — development of curricula and workforce development program designed to meet job market needs.
• Health Professions for our Community (HEALP): Health Professions Center of Excellence ($6.6 million) — project will focus on developing a Health Professionals Center of Excellence.
• Marina at Front Beach ($5.5 million) — funding to convert derelict shrimp processing plant to marina and event center.
• Institute of Marine Mammal Studies Outreach and Ecotourism ($875,000) — enhance and expand ecotourism around Gulf Coast marine resources.
• St. Stanislaus and Ocean Springs Environmental Education ($566,500) — enhance environmental science programs related to marine ecosystem education.

NFWF:

• Wolf River headwaters acquisition ($15,103,000) — acquire approximately 14,000 acres along the Wolf River south of Highway 53 to help improve water quality and quantity.
• Gulf Islands National Seashore ($1,578,000) — continue invasive species removal and control work out on the Gulf Islands National Seashore with the National Park Service.

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OCEAN SPRINGS — Amber Granger, 38, took her first health care job more than two decades ago as a nursing assistant.

She went back to school to be a lab technician, then moved into management. She dreamed of becoming a nurse but she couldn’t give up her income – or take on anymore student debt – for nursing school.

Her career aspirations sat on hold until the Singing River Healthcare Academy gave her the nudge she needed. The new academy is the state’s first-ever medical apprenticeship program.

The academy is part of the Singing River Health System’s – and state and local leadership’s – answer to the major staffing shortages plaguing the state’s health care system.

“If I can advance my career, continue to work, and provide for my family then why not apply?” said Granger, a Gulfport resident. “I got the call that I was accepted and it was surreal until my first day of school.”

Now Granger is on her way to become a licensed practical nurse. She’s in a cohort of 15 in the fledgling academy, which won’t have a dedicated homebase until a new complex is constructed. The program allows students to train for a host of much-needed health care jobs without charge and while getting paid for on-the-job training.

On Thursday, Gov. Tate Reeves gathered with hospital leaders to break ground on the academy’s planned four-story building. The new training center will be a short drive from Singing River’s Ocean Springs hospital campus on Bienville Boulevard.

“This transformative program is going to have a huge impact on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Reeves said during Thursday’s celebration. “And, quite frankly, it’s going to have a huge impact on the entire state of Mississippi.”

Singing River CEO Tiffany Murdock said the program projects to have 1,000 students in the fall of 2024. She plans to more than quadruple that annual count once the academy’s building is open to students.

Reeves said the academy fits the state’s overall approach to strengthening the economy through workforce development by ensuring Mississippians have access to training for the state’s most in-demand and high-paying positions.

“This academy will strengthen the pipeline of health care professionals in Mississippi,” he said, “and will help entice people to live, learn and work right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”

Lauren Fernandez, a 33-year-old Ocean Springs resident, is one of the program’s recent graduates. The former Army medic is now a surgical technologist. She aids surgeons from a procedure’s start to finish.

“I had gotten out of health care for a while,” Fernandez said, “and I debated going back for surgical tech school. But then I saw the apprenticeship program and I was like, ‘This is meant to be.’”

In addition to practical nurses and surgical technologists, the program also trains nursing assistants, medical assistants, and phlebotomists.

Hospitals have been facing staffing shortages since before the pandemic, but the issues peaked as the worst of COVID-19 dragged on. Nurses left the field altogether, took on less-stressful nursing jobs outside a hospital setting, or became contracted travel nurses for higher pay.

Mississippi hospitals reported about 3,000 total nursing vacancies at the end of 2021, according to a survey by the Mississippi Hospital Association.

“I can’t be 2,500 people,” Granger said, referring to the state’s massive nursing shortages, “but I can fill the gap of one.”

The post Singing River breaks ground on Mississippi’s first medical apprenticeship facility appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This article is part of Mississippi Today’s ongoing Mississippi Health Care Crisis project. Read more about the project by clicking here.

Perhaps no other federal-state policy has been studied and debated more than Medicaid expansion per the federal Affordable Care Act, including its potential impact on Mississippi — one of just 12 states that has not expanded the program.

A Kaiser Family Foundation report notes there have been more than 400 studies on the topic nationwide. And in Mississippi, the poorest and unhealthiest state in the nation, numerous studies have focused on what expansion would mean. A majority project net positive benefits economically, health-wise or both.

READ MORE: What is Medicaid expansion, really? Answers to common questions.

Expansion would mean someone making $18,754 a year (138% of the poverty level) would be eligible for health care coverage through the federal-state program. The federal government would pay 90% of the costs for those covered, with the state paying 10%.

When Medicaid expansion began Jan. 1, 2014, the federal government paid 100% of the costs, stepped down to 90% over years. Mississippi missed out on the larger matching rates from the federal government.

But under the recent American Rescue Plan, the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid have been offered a financial incentive to do so. That equates to more than $700 million for Mississippi, and more recent studies have factored in those incentives.

The studies on Medicaid expansion in Mississippi

• Mississippi University Research Center/IHL, 2021: This analysis of the fiscal and economic impact of expansion was authored by state Economist Corey Miller and senior Economist Sondra Collins. It found expansion would add about 230,000 adults to Mississippi’s Medicaid rolls between 2022 and 2027. It would produce an average of 11,000 new jobs a year during that time and provide an additional $44 million a year to the state general fund.

The study found that expansion would increase the state’s gross domestic product by more than $700 million a year over five years, increase personal income between $539 million and $812 during the same period and increase the state’s population between 3,300 and 11,500 annually over the same period.

• Commonwealth Fund study, 2021: The study estimates expansion would cost the state $956 million over five years, while generating $1.2 billion in savings for a net gain to state coffers of $212 million. The study estimates expansion would provide coverage for about 230,000 adults.

• Urban Institute/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national study, 2020: This was a study of the impact of expansion on the then 15 states that had not expanded Medicaid. The study projected that expansion in Mississippi would bring an increase of 207,000 enrollees and an increase in state Medicaid costs of $177 million a year, but did not attempt to calculate any increased revenues or savings.

• Perryman Group study of Mississippi Cares plan, 2019: This was a study of the Mississippi Hospital Association’s “Mississippi Cares” alternative expansion plan. MHA proposed creating a public-private partnership, expanding eligibility to adults earning up to 138% of the poverty level, but imposing a $20 a month premium on enrollees and a $100 copay for non-emergency use of hospital emergency rooms. Hospitals would cover remaining state costs. The Perryman study projected the plan would create an additional 36,000 jobs a year on average for the first 11 years and provide an increase in state tax revenue, a decrease in private insurance premiums and a reduction in uncompensated care costs of $252 million a year. The plan also included a requirement that unemployed beneficiaries enroll in job training or education programs.

• University of Alabama Birmingham study for Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, 2013: This study, by UAB’s Department of Health Care Organization and policy, modeled the impact of expansion on enrollment, state and federal costs, employment and state tax revenue from 2014 to 2020. It projected expansion would result in 212,362 more enrollees by 2020, would generate 19,318 additional jobs in 2020, with $200 million in additional state and local tax revenue. It projected an overall state budget savings of $34 million in 2020 and projected expansion would produce $2 billion in economic activity annually.

• Kaiser Foundation/Urban Institute national study, 2012: This study projected the effect of expansion on costs and enrollment nationally and by state from 2013 to 2022. The study projected expansion in Mississippi would cost the state about $1 billion for the period, and result in an additional 231,000 enrollees. The study listed the additional costs without estimates of any savings or increases in tax revenues.

• Mississippi University Research Center/IHL, 2012: This study projected the impact of expansion on Medicaid costs, enrollment, and net economic impact on the state budget from 2014-2025. The study used three scenarios, high, medium and low participation, predicting that high participation of an additional 310,000 enrollees was most likely. It predicted the state’s cost of expansion would be about $118 million by 2020, but that expansion would create about 9,000 new jobs a year and have a net positive impact on the state budget of nearly $65 million by 2020.

• Milliman Inc. study, 2010, 2012: The Mississippi Division of Medicaid contracted this analysis of Mississippi Medicaid’s budget exposure to the ACA from fiscal 2011-2020, and it was updated in 2012 and is still referred to frequently by opponents of expansion. The report modeled three scenarios – low, moderate and high enrollee increases and said moderate or low scenarios were most likely. The report projected under the moderate scenario that 243,000 additional adults and 67,000 more children would enroll and the state share of Medicaid costs would increase by $1.26 billion over the time period, including costs for current and additional enrollees. It estimated that by fiscal 2020, the state would see increased costs of $280 million a year.

The 2012 report modeled enrollment and costs from fiscal 2014-2020 under various scenarios. Under the higher enrollment scenario, it estimated expansion would cost the state $155 million a year by 2020. It focused on the Medicaid budget and did not estimate any cost offsets from other programs or from additional tax revenue.

The post Here’s what experts say about expanding Medicaid in Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi State Board of Education on Thursday approved a multi-million dollar contract to a company whose vice president chaired the state board until last spring.

The board voted 5-2 to approve the contract to the PATH Company to administer a loan program established by the Legislature earlier this year. The contract will pay up to $3.6 million over a four-year period, providing $1.2 million in the first year. Two members of the company’s leadership have ties to state government: Senior Vice President of Business Development Jason Dean is the former chair of the State Board of Education, and Co-Founder and Principal Nathan Wells is the former chief of staff to Speaker of the House Phillip Gunn. 

The Educational Facilities Revolving Loan Fund makes money available to school districts as a zero-interest loan for repairs and renovations of existing school buildings and new construction for pre-K programs or career and technical education facilities. In its first year of operation, the Legislature allocated $40 million to the revolving loan fund. 

The company will be responsible for reviewing the construction plans of districts to ensure that they are “critical infrastructure improvements” and adhere to building codes, as state law requires, and for tracking the repayment of the loans. 

When asked by Mississippi Today about the possible conflict of interest with Dean’s employment, the Mississippi Department of Education pointed to the Public Procurement Review Board manual, which establishes that former membership to a board is only considered a conflict of interest if it has been less than one year since the former member exited the board. Dean left the board in April 2021. 

Dean told Mississippi Today the contract was awarded through a public competition that numerous other construction management companies could have applied to, but did not.

“Obviously, I know people that are on the State Board of Education,” Dean told Mississippi Today. “I did not contact them and use any personal relationship at any point to influence the decision. I wanted it to be awarded to us objectively based on merits.”   

Bill Jacobs, a state board member, questioned spending such a large amount for reviewing construction plans and financial record keeping, and asked why PATH Company was overseeing the loan repayment program instead of an accounting firm or similar financial entity. 

Felicia Gavin, chief of operations for the Mississippi Department of Education, said the law creating the program allows no more than 3% of the funds to be spent on administrative costs, which the contract adheres to. Gavin also said that while the PATH Company was the only group to apply for this contract, the proposal met all the criteria, including their financial management abilities. On the company’s website, its work is described as “help(s) entities utilize technology to create better efficiencies in the areas of energy, water, and/or operations.” 

Dean added that PATH has internal financial managers, and the company stated in its proposal that it plans to bring in an additional accounting firm to assist in the financial management of the loans.  

The post State Board of Ed awards $3.6 million contract to company with government ties appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Flush with $2.3 billion in federal pandemic relief funds, school districts across the state are working to spend them on infrastructure improvements, technology, and catching up on learning lost in the pandemic. 

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund was created initially by the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and then subsequently replenished in two other pieces of federal legislation, creating three separate pots of money for the state and districts to spend. 

READ MORE: How much pandemic relief funds has your school district spent?

Mississippi Today reviewed the spending plans and spoke to local officials in three school districts which collectively received roughly $207 million: the Jackson Public School District, Ocean Springs School District, and Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District. Across the districts, the major spending themes are reopening schools safely, learning loss recovery, and infrastructure improvements.

A national analysis of district spending plans by FutureEd, an education policy think tank at Georgetown University, found that districts with higher poverty levels are receiving significantly more ESSER dollars per student, nearly 10 times more when comparing the highest and lowest poverty districts. FutureEd said this difference stems from Congress allocating the funds using the Title I funding formula, which distributes federal funding to schools based on the number of low-income students enrolled.

FutureEd also found that the higher the poverty rate in a district, the more likely administrators were to allocate money to heating, venting, and air conditioning (HVAC) updates and purchasing new instructional materials. 

For example, in the Jackson Public School District, every school is budgeted to receive HVAC renovations, which are also often accompanied by window replacements or roof repairs. Chief of Staff William Merritt explained that these additional repairs are necessary to ensure that the new HVAC systems can run effectively.

Merritt said it would have been ideal to be allowed to use the federal dollars for building new facilities, since the district’s aging infrastructure means that repairing one problem often means finding another, but “that’s something that we can’t necessarily do at this time,” referencing the federal regulations that limit new construction. 

Statewide, districts are using, on average, nearly half of their money from the third and largest pot of federal dollars on infrastructure. Most of it has gone to HVAC upgrades, buses, outdoor learning spaces, bathroom upgrades, technology, and new floors. 

All three of the districts Mississippi Today spoke to are investing in HVAC upgrades. Leaders said these upgrades are a good preventative measure against airborne diseases like COVID-19, and a needed long-term investment because many buildings have outdated units. 

District leaders also explained that the influx of federal dollars has created a supply and demand problem for contractors and parts. Coupled with the national supply chain issues, upgrades have been  more costly in some cases and districts are pressured to get all of their projects done on time.

National leaders have recognized this pressure, giving states the ability to apply for extensions up to 14 months past the original deadlines. Since the funding came in waves, the spending deadlines do as well. The deadlines to have the money obligated for each pot are Sept. 30 of 2022, 2023, and 2024, but a grace period is built in that gives schools a few extra months to disperse final payments. Per the new extension option that is available, these initial deadlines to award contracts will still be in place, but the grace period to make payments on those contracts has been extended.  

The Mississippi Department of Education confirmed that they are applying for an extension on the first round of federal funding. 

The first pot of money, which districts began receiving in the summer of 2020, was targeted to reopening schools. It was used to make a significant investment in sanitation, initially meeting the immediate need for masks and cleaning supplies, later purchasing disinfectant sprayers with additional funding. 

Anna Guntharp, assistant superintendent in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, said that initial emphasis on personal protective equipment came from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, but that they have found it to be a good practice to keep generally even as public understanding about how COVID spreads has changed. 

“There’s always a risk of transmitting viruses of any kind in a school,” Guntharp said. “Going forward, during flu season or even common cold season, we want to keep our kids safe. I think it was still money well spent even post COVID-19.”

Reopening efforts also included significant purchases of technology. The push to get each student a device saw significant support from the Legislature and Mississippi Department of Education, but districts also spent millions on laptops, tablets, video conferencing cameras, improving broadband connectivity, licensing virtual learning programs, and digital textbooks.

This investment in technology has long-lasting benefits for the students in the Jackson Public School District, according to Merritt, the chief of staff. The district, which often struggles with school closures caused by water pressure issues, will now be able to pivot to virtual instruction for other circumstances outside of a spike in disease transmission to avoid lost school days. 

Extending instructional time is a key tactic to addressing the national decline in student achievement since 2019, frequently referred to as pandemic learning loss. This decline is one of the major focuses of the federal funding, with Congress creating a requirement for the third and largest pot of money that at least 20% must be spent addressing learning loss. 

Districts are primarily pursuing two methods to address this decline: interventionists to work directly with students on concepts they’re struggling with in their larger classes, and after school and summer school programs to increase classroom hours. 

Tonya Bolton, director of federal programs for the Ocean Springs School District, said the district has been analyzing data for each school to determine individualized areas of need, focusing on concepts from earlier grades that students may have missed and getting them up to grade level. Bolton said internal data shows their efforts have been effective enough that they may continue to invest money in having interventionists even after the federal funding runs out. 

Guntharp said approximately 14% of students in the Starkville-Oktibbeha School District are currently working with interventionists, and the district is also looking for ways to afford retaining the ones they hired after the district runs out of federal funds. 

Laura Anderson, associate director of the Edunomics Lab, said increased per-student spending doesn’t always lead to better outcomes, which makes it crucial for districts to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of their learning loss recovery plans – a sentiment education researchers have also echoed in recent reports on district level learning loss. 

“We have this infusion (of money); what are our kids getting for it?” Anderson asked. “And if we don’t think that we’re getting the results that we wanted for our kids, how do we pivot? Districts have to be told it’s okay to be nimble and to make those changes.”

The post How three Mississippi school districts are spending $207 million in federal relief funds appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Los oficiales del Centro Médico de la Universidad de Mississippi dijeron el viernes que las negociaciones para hacerse cargo del Hospital Greenwood Leflore en dificultades han terminado y que no es posible llegar a un acuerdo.

Sin un acuerdo con UMMC, el hospital podría cerrar antes de fin de año.

“A pesar de los mejores esfuerzos de todas las partes involucradas, nos ha quedado claro que un acuerdo entre el Centro Médico de la Universidad de Mississippi y el Hospital Greenwood Leflore no será posible”, dijo el Dr. Alan Jones, vicerrector asociado de asuntos clínicos en UMMC.

Dijo que un acuerdo no es posible debido a varios factores, el principal es “las realidades actuales de la economía de la atención médica que enfrentan todos los sistemas de salud en este entorno desafiante”

El presidente del Concejo Municipal de Greenwood, Ronnie Stevenson, le dijo a Mississippi Today que la decisión de UMMC fue un shock cuando se enteró alrededor de la hora del almuerzo el viernes.

UMMC y Greenwood Leflore habían estado en conversaciones sobre un posible acuerdo de asociación desde el verano. El CEO interino de Greenwood Leflore, Gary Marchand, dijo al personal la semana pasada que ningún acuerdo estaría listo antes de principios de 2023, a pesar de las esperanzas anteriores de completar el proceso para fines de año.

El Ayuntamiento de Greenwood y la Junta de Supervisores del Condado de Leflore, los propietarios conjuntos del hospital, votaron la semana pasada para aportar casi $10 millones para cubrir las deudas pendientes de Medicare y los costos de mantenimiento diferidos que UMMC dijo que no quería asumir si se hacía cargo de las operaciones. 

“Estoy muy decepcionado con su decisión”, dijo Stevenson. “Nos han retenido durante meses, pensando que esto iba a pasar, y nosotros, como ciudad y condado, cumplimos con todas sus demandas o acordamos cumplir con todas sus demandas, y que se retiraran en el último minuto, dejándonos seco así, es difícil de digerir en este momento”.

Stevenson dijo que los líderes locales no saben de otro socio potencial para operar el hospital.

“No teníamos un Plan B”, dijo. “Pero tenemos que ir a buscar uno”.

Mientras, es probable que el hospital tenga que seguir recortando empleos y servicios en un esfuerzo por mantener las puertas abiertas el mayor tiempo posible, dijo.

El presidente de la Junta de Supervisores del Condado de Leflore, Robert Collins, dijo en un comunicado que los supervisores “siempre habían estado preocupados” de que un acuerdo entre UMMC y el Hospital Greenwood Leflore no se llevara a cabo.

“Entendiendo que no somos expertos en atención médica, hemos contratado los servicios de consultoría de Samuel Odle y (sic) un ejecutivo de atención médica experimentado”, dijo el comunicado. “Señor. El papel de Odle es ver la situación y asesorar a los supervisores y a la comunidad sobre las opciones viables para mantener (sic) la atención médica en nuestra comunidad”.

Odle, asesor sénior de políticas en Bose Public Affairs Group, anteriormente dirigió hospitales en Indiana, donde tiene su sede.

Marchand les dijo a los empleados el viernes por la mañana que el hospital despediría hasta 80 empleados para reducir los costos mientras continuaban las negociaciones con UMMC. El memorando no contenía ninguna indicación de que el acuerdo de asociación se hubiera retirado de la mesa.

Un comunicado de prensa del Hospital Greenwood Leflore sugiere que la decisión fue una sorpresa para los funcionarios del hospital.

“Aunque ciertamente podemos entender y apreciar el desafío de brindar servicios de atención médica en la era posterior a la pandemia, esta decisión no se esperaba en función del progreso que se había logrado con respecto a una transacción de arrendamiento”, dijo el comunicado. “Las realidades financieras de brindar servicios de atención médica están afectando a ambas organizaciones”.

Cuando se le preguntó si el estado intervendría para ayudar al hospital, el vicegobernador Hosemann dijo que estaba decepcionado de que las partes no pudieran llegar a un acuerdo.

“Los problemas financieros que enfrenta el cuidado de la salud se están volviendo universales en nuestro estado. Necesitamos un plan universal para abordarlos”, dijo en un comunicado a Mississippi Today.

El presidente de la Cámara, Philip Gunn, no respondió de inmediato el viernes por la tarde. Los legisladores estatales viajaron a Jackson esta semana para una sesión especial para aprobar un acuerdo de incentivo fiscal de $246 millones para ayudar a una corporación de otro estado a expandir sus operaciones en el estado. El gobernador Tate Reeves, quien centró sus comentarios públicos esta semana en la creación de empleos del proyecto, no incluyó políticas para el cierre de hospitales rurales ni ninguna otra necesidad apremiante que enfrenta el estado en su llamada a sesión especial.

Los funcionarios de ambos hospitales dijeron que continuarán discutiendo los servicios médicos en Greenwood y el condado de Leflore, incluida la operación de UMMC de una clínica de pediatría general y una clínica de obstetricia y ginecología. UMMC pronto también administrará una clínica de medicina interna y atención primaria en el área.

“Continuaremos evaluando otras oportunidades a medida que surjan para mantener algunos servicios de atención médica en la comunidad”, dijo Jones.

Stevenson dijo que el hospital es fundamental para Greenwood y el condado de Leflore.

“Esta comunidad necesita un hospital”, dijo. “No queremos tener que ir corriendo a Jackson… Queremos salvar vidas aquí, y tener un hospital comunitario salvará vidas”.

Más de la mitad de los hospitales rurales de Mississippi están en riesgo de cierre, según muestran nuevos datos del Centro para la Calidad de la Atención Médica y la Reforma de Pagos. El estado tiene la mayor cantidad de hospitales rurales en riesgo inmediato de cierre en la nación con 24.

Desde 2005, han cerrado cinco hospitales rurales en Mississippi.

El oficial de salud estatal, el Dr. Daniel Edney, aludió a la amenaza continua al Hospital Greenwood Leflore durante la reunión de la junta estatal de salud el mes pasado, cuando describió la infraestructura de atención médica en el Delta como “muy frágil” y dijo que al menos seis hospitales en la región son enfrentando serios desafíos financieros. En ese momento, las negociaciones entre UMMC y Greenwood Leflore parecían estar encaminadas.

“A pesar de lo que se ha informado en los medios, actualmente no hay soluciones para esos hospitales”, dijo. “Nadie viene al rescate”.

Nota del editor: Kate Royals, editora de salud comunitaria de Mississippi Today desde enero de 2022, trabajó como escritora/editora para la Oficina de Comunicaciones de UMMC desde noviembre de 2018 hasta agosto de 2020, escribiendo comunicados de prensa y artículos sobre las escuelas de odontología y enfermería del centro médico.

Andrés Fuentes

Andrés Fuentes es periodista de FOX8-TV en Nueva Orleans y traductor de Mississippi Today. Antes de que el nativo de Nueva Orleans regresara, era periodista para WLOX-TV en Biloxi, Mississippi.

The post ‘No teníamos un Plan B’: UMMC no salvará al hospital Delta en apuros appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Tate Reeves have agreed on a revenue estimate that will result in lawmakers having about $500 million more than last year to spend when they convene in January to start work on a budget for the new fiscal year.

Members of the Legislative Budget Committee, including House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, met with Reeves Wednesday morning to develop the official revenue estimate of $7.52 billion for the new fiscal year, starting July 1. The revenue estimate used by House and Senate leaders this past April when legislators passed the budget for the current fiscal year was nearly $7 billion.

The 7% increase in the revenue estimate continues a trend of unprecedented growth in tax collections for the state. Mississippi, thanks in part to federal spending and inflationary growth, now has a surplus of more than $2 billion.

The estimate for the upcoming fiscal year, though, based on the estimate made Wednesday, indicates that legislative leaders and the governor believe that revenue growth will be slowing. The new revenue estimate represents only an 0.3% increase over what financial experts believe will be collected in taxes during the current fiscal year.

The estimate was recommended to the legislative leaders by state Economist Corey Miller and four other state financial experts. State law mandates that the governor and members of the Legislative Budget Committee agree on a revenue estimate before the start of each legislative session.

Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, did not oppose the estimate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, but pointed out that a recession is likely.

And a recession could result in a dip in revenue.

In response to questions from Hosemann, Miller said anticipated additional interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in an effort to curtail inflation “could be enough to tip us into a (national) recession.”

Reeves and Gunn both have advocated for eliminating the state income tax while revenue collections are strong. The income tax accounts for about one-third of general fund revenue. The sales tax is the only revenue source larger than the income tax, making up about 36% of the general fund.

Reeves told the Mississippi Economic Council during a recent meeting “you have my word that as long as I’m governor I will never stop fighting to fully eliminate the income tax in Mississippi.”

Hosemann has advocated using some of the surplus funds for a one-time rebate to taxpayers.

During Wednesday’s meeting with legislative leaders, Reeves said there is “opportunity there for us to cut government spending to return more money to taxpayers.”

In response to Miller pointing out that state employment growth had stalled this year and was not increasing, Reeves said it is not because of a lack of job openings but because of “the inability and unwillingness of some to enter the labor market.”

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