OurTupelo

A modern Mississippi take on the Christmas story.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Hospitals appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi can spend about $7 million a year to keep mothers and newborns healthier, or continue to spend tens of millions more dealing with the fallout of having the worst infant and maternal mortality and morbidity in the country, health experts told lawmakers Thursday.

“This reminds me of that Midas commercial: Pay me now, or pay me later,” said Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, chairman of the Senate Medicaid Committee. “The cost later is obviously significantly more. The relatively minimal amount to provide this care compared to the cost later – it’s a no brainer in my mind.”

Blackwell’s committee on Thursday heard testimony from numerous health experts on benefits of increasing the length of postpartum Medicaid health coverage for mothers from 60 days to a year – as most states have done or are considering. Postpartum coverage has been extended for mothers in all states during the federal pandemic health emergency but will end when the national emergency is ended, which is expected to happen soon.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has vowed the Senate in the 2023 legislative session will again push for extending postpartum coverage. Early this year, Speaker Philip Gunn and the House leadership blocked three Senate attempts to extend the coverage. Gov. Tate Reeves has been noncommittal on the issue. But all three leaders have noted a need for policies to help new and expecting mothers and newborns after a ban on abortions is expected to add at least 5,000 more births in Mississippi each year.

In Mississippi with high rates of poverty and uninsured people, about 65% of babies are born to mothers on Medicaid. Because of lag times in being approved for coverage and the 60-day cutoff, mothers often do not receive the prenatal and postpartum care they need, care that could prevent many major problems.

Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician and president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, provided some somber statistics and costs to lawmakers Thursday.

Mississippi’s pregnancy-related maternal mortality ratio is 33.2 deaths per 100,000 live births, nearly double the national average of 17.3 deaths. Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate, preterm birth rate and low birthweight rate in the U.S. One-in-seven babies born here are preterm. These numbers are dated by a few years, and rates have gotten worse, lawmakers and experts said Thursday.

Henderson said the hospital cost for a healthy baby born full term runs about $5,000 to $6,000. But for extremely premature babies, that cost averages $600,000 and can easily top $1 million – costs frequently borne by state Medicaid.

“If we can prevent just a few of those premature births, we would be able to pay for this, and also help 65% of moms in Mississippi,” Henderson said.

State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said he believes extending the coverage would not only pay for itself but be “budget positive” for the state, with savings from healthier mothers and babies with preventive and follow-up care, and federal Medicaid covering most of the cost.

“The rest of the states have adopted 12 month postpartum or Medicaid expansion,” Edney said. “We are one of two states in the nation that has adopted neither. We are kind of isolated in our current policy. What I would beg us to consider is the fact it makes much more economic sense to let Medicaid pay for this rather than the state having to pay for it – either state agencies such as the health department paying, or hospitals paying for it with uncompensated care.”

But Edney advised lawmakers to, “Please divorce the Medicaid expansion debate from the postpartum benefits debate. We can have the Medicaid expansion debate at another time.”

Expanding Medicaid to cover the working poor in Mississippi per the federal Affordable Care Act has been the source of a decade of partisan debate in Mississippi, with GOP leaders blocking it. Blackwell opposes Medicaid expansion, but along with other Senate Republicans said extending postpartum coverage to mothers already on Medicaid for their pregnancies is not the same as the broader expansion.

Wil Ervin, deputy administrator for health policy for Mississippi Medicaid, on Thursday told lawmakers his agency is not making a recommendation to lawmakers for or against extending postpartum coverage.

“But if you do, we would ask that you do so quickly and decisively, and give the division enough time to successfully implement the changes,” Ervin said.

Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, in questions to several presenters Thursday indicated Gov. Reeves could promptly extend the coverage without Legislative action next year.

“Isn’t it true the executive branch today could make that happen without us waiting for the other chamber? This afternoon, he could sign a piece of paper and solve these problems. But if that doesn’t happen, I think you’ll see a continued commitment from the Senate.”

The post Extending postpartum coverage to Mississippi mothers ‘a no brainer,’ key lawmaker says appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: The ‘Possum appeared first on Mississippi Today.

PASCAGOULA — A bulk-carry ship packed with 47,000 tons of Mississippi-made wood pellets readied to take off for Japan Wednesday as state leaders gathered to celebrate its upcoming sendoff. 

The pellets, which are designed to be burned in place of coal, arrived at the Port of Pascagoula by train from George County. Enviva, the wood-pellet company, is the port’s newest partner and first started shipping pellets out in July. 

Enviva CEO Thomas Meth was on the Gulf Coast Wednesday to celebrate the massive $90 million project and the company’s growing Mississippi footprint. But in addition to the fanfare is the real possibility Meth could soon have to navigate a halt to his company’s usual supply chain between its 10 southeastern factories.

Rail workers have threatened to move ahead with a strike after failed union negotiations with freight companies. The unions are calling for paid sick days and other quality of life improvements.  

“I will tell you that it’s not the right time to have a railroad strike,” Meth said following the terminal’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday. “And we’re optimistic it can be avoided.” 

Experts have said a strike would shut down nearly a third of the country’s freight systems, adding to congestion and causing a domino effect even in areas – such as Mississippi – where unions aren’t as active. 

President Joe Biden is asking Congress to step in to block the strike – the consequences of which could cripple the economy. In response, the House passed a bill Wednesday that would force a contract agreement. Biden is now asking the Senate to act quickly.

“Without the certainty of a final vote to avoid a shutdown this week, railroads will begin to halt the movement of critical materials like chemicals to clean our drinking water as soon as this weekend,” the president said in a statement. 

As far as Mississippi businesses go, Gov. Tate Reeves told a Mississippi Today reporter Wednesday that most companies in the state that rely on railways have contingency plans in place should there be an extensive strike. 

“This particular company,” Reeves said, referring to Enviva, “and many others, for instance, have facilities that can utilize the The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to move product.” 

Enviva can also use trucks to transfer the pellets to the port – something it plans to do once its next factory is operating in Bond.

The company says it is the leading wood-pellet producer in the world. The massive white domes now at the Port of Pascagoula can hold up to 90,000 metric tons of wood pellets and are operated by about 30 local employees.

Reeves has worked closely with Enviva as it grows its Mississippi footprint. The state gave the company $4 million in grants to open its Bond facility. 

“We’re talking about decades of economic activity here in the State of Mississippi,” Meth said. “The world is hungry for wood-based biomass from Mississippi, so it will be a fantastic investment for the people of Mississippi – not only for our employees but the whole supply chain that we’re touching.” 

The post With rail strike looming, Enviva wood pellet company hosts ribbon cutting in Pascagoula appeared first on Mississippi Today.

It’s high school football championship in Mississippi. The Rock in Hattiesburg will be the site of six championship games, including Saturday night’s 6A showdown of Brandon against Starkville. Starkville head coach Chris Jones, the former Jackson State standout and state championship coach at Kemper County, talks about the state championship, as well as his alma mater in the SWAC Championship, and his former Starkville quarterback Luke Altmeyer entering the NCAA portal.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: Starkville coach Chris Jones joins the pod on championship week in Mississippi. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Remarkable Ole Miss freshman running back Quinshon Judkins won the C Spire Conerly Trophy Tuesday night and many Jackson State fans – and some media – are calling it a travesty.

If the tables were turned – if JSU’s Shadeur Sanders had won – Ole Miss fans and probably some media would be outraged.

That’s just the way it is for individual awards in the sporting world. 

This column comes with this disclaimer: I voted for Judkins. It was a difficult choice. Shedeur Sanders, a player I have much admired and praised often in this column, led an undefeated Jackson State team to the SWAC championship. He completed 70% of his passes for more than 3,000 yards and 32 touchdowns (with only six interceptions). As his daddy, the coach, said, “As Shedeur goes, we go.” JSU has gone far.

In the run-up to the Conerly I heard many Ole Miss (and State) fans say something like, “Yeah, Sanders is obviously  good, but look at the competition he plays against. He’s not throwing for all those yards against Alabama and LSU.”

Sanders can’t help that. Steve McNair, Jerry Rice and Walter Payton didn’t play against Alabama and LSU either. I voted for McNair and Rice to win the Heisman Trophy and would have voted for Payton if I had had a vote back when Walter played at JSU. It is up to the individual voter to decide how a player’s talents translate to a higher level of competition. I believed both Rice and McNair were the most outstanding college players in the country — at any level — when they played. Doug Flutie won the Heisman instead of Rice. Rashaad Salaam won instead of McNair. You decide who was the better player in either case. I stand by my votes.

The Heisman is supposed to go to the most outstanding player in the country and the Conerly is supposed to go to the most outstanding player in the state. I voted for Judkins because I thought he was Mississippi’s most outstanding player. In my mind, it was close. How close? Had Sanders won, I would not have been surprised, nor disappointed. Do I think Shedeur Sanders would be a great player in the SEC? Yes, I do.

But again, having to make a choice between the two, I thought Judkins was the more outstanding player. Blending quickness, speed, power and toughness, Judkins ran for 1,476 yards and right at six yards per carry. He scored 16 rushing touchdowns and another on a pass reception. He ran for 214 yards against Texas A&M, 205 yards against Arkansas, 135 yards against Alabama, 139 against Auburn and 111 against LSU. He led the SEC in rushing and touchdowns. Before doing all that, he had to beat out Zach Evans, a former five-star recruit who ran for over seven yards per carry in two seasons at TCU.

Ole Miss has been playing football for 129 years. Nobody in school history has ever run for so many yards – not Deuce McAllister, not Joe Gunn, not Charlie Flowers, not anyone. 

As I wrote recently, Judkins reminds me most of the great Walter Payton. That is not a comparison I make flippantly. He runs with similar relentlessness. When people tackle him, it hurts them worse than it hurts him. He is just 19 years old. Barring injury and with continued hard work, he can become one of the greatest backs ever.

Shedeur Sanders, who will lead his team in the SWAC Championship game Saturday, was terrific as a freshman, better as a sophomore. In my mind, Judkins was a whisker better. For that matter, Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes, the third Conerly finalist, might have been the best cornerback in the country. And there were other strong candidates — a testament to the quality of college football played in the Magnolia State.

The post Controversy inherent, but Judkins deserved to win the Conerly appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Embattled prosecutor Doug Evans, who tried Curtis Flowers six times for murder and saw his convictions overturned on appeal, lost his bid to become judge for the 5th Circuit Court to Winona Municipal Court Judge Alan “Devo” Lancaster. 

With about 85% of precincts reporting in Tuesday’s runoff, Evans, district attorney for the 5th circuit, received about 30% of the vote and Lancaster won with 70% of the vote, according to unofficial election results. 

“I am truly humbled by the overwhelming support I received during the campaign,” Lancaster wrote on his campaign Facebook page Tuesday night. “I want to thank everyone for not only their votes, but the kind words, encouragement, and prayers. I look forward to being your new Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit.” 

Lancaster is a partner at the Lancaster Taylor Law Firm in Winona. He has been a municipal judge in Winona since 2010 and attorney for Montgomery County Economic Development since 1986. 

The Circuit Court district includes Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Montgomery, Grenada, Webster and Winston counties. The winner will succeed Judge George Mitchell, who died in April. 

Lancaster and Evans were the top two vote-getters to emerge from a five-way election on Nov. 8. Other candidates in the race were Ackerman attorney Kasey Burney Young, Kosciusko attorney Doug Crosby and Louisville attorney Zachary Madison. 

Evans, who has been the district attorney of the district for over 30 years, could have become a judge in the same district where the U.S. Supreme Court said he prevented Black people from serving as jurors, including in Flowers’ case. 

Evans first tried Flowers in 1997 for the killings of four people at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona. 

He secured four death penalty convictions for Flowers, but those were overturned by state and federal courts. In two trials, a jury didn’t reach a unanimous verdict. 

The U.S Supreme Court overturned Flowers’ conviction in 2019. 

In September 2020,  Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office, which replaced Evans as lead prosecutor in Flowers’ case, dropped charges against Flowers after he spent 23 years in prison, most of it on death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. 

In 2021, Flowers sued Evans in federal court for misconduct, which Evans has denied. U.S. District Court Judge Neal Biggers Jr. ordered the case stayed until May 1, 2023. 

The post Winona lawyer defeats embattled DA Doug Evans for circuit judge post appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Asking Santa appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Just across the Mississippi River bridge from Natchez are the Louisiana towns of Vidalia, Ferriday and other communities where there are people who have health care coverage through the expansion of Medicaid.

Those Louisianans, if they are in the correct Medicaid health care network, can obtain medical services across the bridge in Mississippi at Merit Natchez hospital. People in Mississippi, of course, also can receive health care at Merit, one of the largest health care providers in southwest Mississippi.

But those Mississippians cannot take advantage of Medicaid expansion to help pay their medical bills because Mississippi, unlike Louisiana, does not have Medicaid expansion.

“Expanding Medicaid was Gov. (John Bell) Edwards’ first official act when he took office in 2016,” Laura Leist, a spokeswoman for the Democratic governor, told Mississippi Today via email. “He often says it’s the easiest big decision he’s made as governor.”

Kay Ketchings, a spokesperson for the Natchez hospital, said Merit will work with Louisianans who are not in network to provide them medical care as it will with Mississippians who have no access to Medicaid expansion. But Merit Natchez, like other Mississippi hospitals, have a difficult time collecting payment from many poor people who are not covered by Medicaid expansion. They often do not have the money to pay, leaving hospitals to eat those costs or pass the costs on to other patients.

“Medicaid covers the most vulnerable residents in Mississippi …,” Ketchings said. “It is an important step toward advancing the overall health of Mississippians because it provides sustainable coverage for continued access to preventive care and physician assistance with chronic conditions. Like others in healthcare, we are supportive of efforts to expand coverage for vulnerable Mississippians.”

Louisiana is one of the few Southern states to expand Medicaid. Medicaid provides health care coverage for primarily the working poor who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level or about $18,750 for an individual. The federal government pays 90% of the cost plus substantial incentives for the states that have not expanded Medicaid to do so.

South Dakota voters earlier this month voted to expand Medicaid. Now 11 states, mostly in the Southeast, have not taken advantage of the expansion as is offered as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

A map of the states that have not expanded Medicaid looks much the same as a footprint of the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference with four notable exceptions – Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Missouri. Those four states, including two contiguous to Mississippi, have expanded Medicaid.

Of the 11 states that have not expanded Medicaid, seven have schools in the Southeastern Conference, and all seven have higher percentages of their population uninsured or lacking health care coverage than does the nation at a whole.

The four SEC states that have expanded Medicaid have higher percentages of their population with health insurance coverage than those that have not expanded Medicaid.

“Today, more than 747,000 of Louisiana’s working poor have access to health care, including mammograms and other preventive heath screenings, mental health resources and substance abuse services,” said Leist. “Louisiana’s uninsured rate has dropped from 22.7% in 2015 prior to expansion to just 9.4%, and rural hospitals that were on the verge of closing before expansion have been able to stay open and continue serving their communities.”

In Mississippi, the Hospital Association, with many of its member medical centers in financial straits, is one of the most vocal supporters of Medicaid expansion.  Mississippi’s State Health Officer Daniel Edney has said that 38, or 54%, of the state’ rural hospitals are in danger of closing. Hospital Association officials say Medicaid expansion would provide a boost to those struggling hospitals by decreasing the amount of uncompensated care they deliver.

But Mississippi political leaders have blocked efforts to expand Medicaid. They have provided a litany of reasons for opposing the expansion, ranging from the state cannot afford it to not wanting to expand welfare programs in the state.

Susan Dunlap, a spokesperson for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said Medicaid expansion has been a positive in the Bluegrass state.

“Costs to the state have matched what was anticipated,” she said. “Expansion of this program resulted in economic growth through increased state and local tax revenue, the creation of new jobs and additional (health care) provider revenue.”

She said the expansion has resulted in people being able to get medical care, including important but non-life threatening procedures, such as knee replacements, shoulder surgeries and tonsillectomies.

In three Southern states, Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky, Medicaid was expanded under Democratic governors. But in those states, the expansion has been largely supported by Republican-controlled legislatures that have not tried to repeal the program. And in Arkansas, it has been continued under a Republican governor. And Arkansas-Gov. elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former spokesperson for President Donald Trump, has not advocated for the repeal of that state’s version of Medicaid expansion. In Arkansas, the state uses the federal Medicaid expansion matching funds to purchase private insurance for those who otherwise would be eligible for the Medicaid expansion program.

“Out of the 38 (states that have expanded Medicaid), none have stopped,” Tim Moore, chief executive with the Mississippi Hospital Association, recently told the Senate Public Health Committee during a hearing on the financial difficulties facing Mississippi hospitals.

“They continue to use it. They continue to take down federal dollars. It has been a good thing for everybody, including the state, the patients and the providers.”

The states with the highest uninsured rates in the nation are primarily Southern states that have not expanded Medicaid. Texas is the highest at 18.4%, while Georgia and Florida are at 13.2% followed by Mississippi at 13%, according to a recent report by the Health Foundation.

The national uninsured rate is 9.2%, according to the same study. The Southern states that have expanded Medicaid all have uninsured rates near or below the national average. Kentucky’s uninsured rate is 6.4%.

Uninsured rates across the national have declined significantly since the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act that also includes the health care exchange that allows people to buy insurance coverage in most cases with the help of a government subsidy.

But there are people who do not qualify for health insurance policies through the health care exchange because their income is below a certain level. The architects of the Affordable Care Act envisioned they would be covered through Medicaid expansion, not contemplating there would be states like Mississippi that opted not to participate in the program.

The post Louisianans on Medicaid expansion can get care across river at Natchez hospital appeared first on Mississippi Today.

PEARL – A forensic clinic serving sexual assault survivors in central Mississippi has created a new evidence collection kit that aims to help survivors, law enforcement and prosecutors. 

Bridge Forensic Clinic, which is operated by the Center for Violence Prevention, consulted with forensic experts, law enforcement and nurses to create a new evidence kit – commonly called a rape kit – which hasn’t been updated in over 15 years, according to the clinic. 

A sexual assault survivor can choose to undergo a forensic medical exam to collect evidence, which can be used in a case and prosecution. A medical worker preserves evidence such as clothing and blood and photographs the person’s body for signs of bruising or injuries. 

“Much of the healing of victims comes from results in the justice system,” said Sandy Middleton, executive director for Center for Violence Prevention. 

Beth McCord, operations manager of the Bridge Forensic Clinic, led the process to update the rape kit. 

The previous kit had 21 steps. The new one has nine. Some steps were able to be eliminated or consolidated due to changes in the lab that processes evidence from the kits and how the clinic’s nurses work with survivors. 

“We don’t want to create any more trauma or cause any more trauma to them by doing this exam,” she said. “This exam is for (the survivor) as well as the law enforcement. We’re trying to help them provide these samples with hopes to get DNA back.” 

McCord said the goal is for the kits to be manufactured by the end of the year and available for distribution in early 2023. 

Bridge Forensic Clinic has three sexual assault nurse examiners including McCord who collect evidence for rape kits. The Center for Violence Prevention also has relationships with five local hospital emergency rooms, allowing SANE nurses to collect kit evidence there. 

Last year, the clinic’s SANE nurses served about 230 people, which includes collecting evidence for rape kits, McCord said. 

Between 2019 and 2021, statewide there were prosecutions for 20 rapes, 167 statutory rapes and 481 sexual assaults, according to statistics provided by the center. 

Middleton said these numbers show Mississippi does not do a good job at prosecuting these kinds of cases and that there are likely more survivors who chose not to seek medical attention or report to the police. 

In response to a continued rise in sexual assaults and a lack of prosecution of those crimes in the state, Bridge Forensic Clinic organized a kit review committee with the goal of making changes to the rape kit. 

Evidence from a rape kit can be used if a survivor chooses to report a sexual assault to police. Law enforcement will bring the kit to the state crime lab for analysis. McCord said the wait can be between six to 12 months for results from a rape kit. 

Nearly half of all states in the country have a backlog in testing and processing rape kits, according to End the Backlog.  

That backlog exists for a number of reasons, including a lack of policies and protocols to test kits, a lack of training or gaps about sexual assault, a lack of resources and whether the perpatrator’s identity is known and outdated or unclear lab policies, according to the organization. 

On Tuesday, McCord and Middleton said it is difficult to know how many untested rape kits there are in Mississippi because there is not a central place where they are stored. Kits are often housed in evidence storage of police departments and sometimes at hospitals. 

“It’s hard to know where our backlogs are because we don’t know where our kits are,” Middleton said.

In 2019, the Associated Press reported there were 600 untested kits in Jackson. 

Missisisppi and Maine are the only states that have not had comprehensive rape kit reform, according to a map by End the Backlog. 

In the past several years, state lawmakers have introduced legislation about testing rape kits, but those bills failed. 

Middleton hopes to see legislation that supports use of the new kits and ways for the center to continue to help survivors in the upcoming legislative session. 

The post New Mississippi rape kits aim to help survivors and aid prosecutions appeared first on Mississippi Today.