What should have been a lifeline for Mississippi’s struggling hospitals is proving to be out of reach for the facilities that need it the most.
State lawmakers approved sending millions of dollars to save Mississippi’s struggling hospitals during the session, but now many hospital leaders are running into difficulties trying to access that money.
A third of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure — many of them were counting on the state grants to survive the year.
Legislators in February established the grant program, part of Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s plan to “save rural hospitals,” in lieu of expanding Medicaid. A month later and just days before the end of the legislative session, they decided on the amount: $103 million to be disseminated among the state’s struggling health care providers.
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It was millions less than the Mississippi Hospital Association had advocated for — despite a $4 billion surplus in the state budget — but health care leaders said they would take what they could get.
Hospitals were allocated varying amounts through a formula that accounted for bed counts, hospital designation, emergency rooms and other factors.
But there was a hitch — the money wouldn’t come from the state general fund. Instead, it would come from American Rescue Plan Act funds, federal money meant to ease the financial hits taken by the pandemic.
Timothy H. Moore is the President/CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
MHA director Tim Moore, whose organization helped craft the program, said it wasn’t clear then how much the source of the money would affect hospitals’ ability to access it.
“I think the Legislature felt that it would not be a problem … to get the money out,” he said. “We were looking at them actually cutting grant checks to the hospitals. When ARPA money was applied, that changed the whole thing.”
ARPA funds can only be used to cover COVID-related expenses, and many hospitals have already claimed those federal pandemic reimbursement dollars. Expenses claimed through ARPA cannot have been claimed under any other federal and state reimbursement programs, rendering the grant money useless to many Mississippi hospitals.
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According to Paul Black, CEO of Winston Medical Center in Louisville, that makes the grant bill more of a reimbursement bill.
“I don’t know who came up with the bright-eyed idea to use ARPA money, if they did, they definitely did not understand what that meant to this program,” he said.
“It’s just extremely frustrating that one of the pieces of the legislation … is one thing and the appropriations is something completely different. I don’t understand how they can do that, I really don’t.”
Gov. Tate Reeves, who sent out a release emphasizing his role in the program’s passage, declined to comment about the grant situation.
In a statement sent to Mississippi Today after this story published, Hosemann said, “Our intention was to provide $103 million to hospitals based on a formula related to type of operation and bed count to help stabilize them. If any hospital is shorted because of complications with the federal ARPA structure of the grant, I will support legislation at the beginning of the Session to make up the difference.”
House Public Health Chair Sam Mims, author of House Bill 271 which funded the program, did not respond to a request for comment.
Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, author of Senate Bill 2372 which established the program, deferred questions about hospitals’ issues with the grant program to state Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney.
The state health department is tasked with distributing the funds, and because it’s now tied to federal ARPA funds, has to work with the state department of finance and administration to do so, Edney said.
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During the bill process, Edney said the health department pointed out the pitfalls of using the ARPA money.
“Federal money … doesn’t take up state resources from other places,” he said. “The downside is it has to follow federal guidelines versus state general funds.”
One of those downsides has already become clear: The allocation based on hospitals’ number of licensed beds has been struck, on account of federal guidelines. That means hospitals, if they get money at all, will definitely be getting less than expected.
Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, expresses his concerns about a potential state lottery during a special session of the Legislature at the Capitol in Jackson Thursday, August 23, 2018. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/ Report for America
Senate Public Health Chair Hob Bryan said he’s received questions about the grant program from hospital officials and others, and that he still doesn’t have all the answers.
“I’ve asked questions, and I’m still confused,” Bryan said. “I talk with A, and A says one thing, then I talk with B, and B says something else.”
“I think there’s a lot of confusion over whether a hospital would have to have already spent money on COVID expenses and can be reimbursed, or whether they can spend in the future. One of the things I’ve been told is that if you are improving things at your hospital to deal with COVID, or to prepare for the next COVID, then you will be eligible under the regulations.
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“Hospitals’ reactions appear to be, ‘That’s all well and good, but I’m going broke and this says I can spend more money and get reimbursed, but that doesn’t help me right now,’” Bryan continued.
Bryan said he believes questions and confusion about the program are in part because of the hasty, secretive process Mississippi legislative leaders have used to set budgets in recent years.
“We do everything in secret, and then put it all together at the last minute,” Bryan said. “Transparency, like say, in conference committees and the rest of the process might help, in that issues like this could be identified and addressed before it’s passed. Discussing these things more in the open could provide better results … Of course, we had the House refusing to negotiate on this or anything else because they were holding out for tax cuts, then they tried to do everything in the last 36 ½ minutes.”
Black agreed that hammering out funding details at the last-minute likely contributed to this oversight — an oversight that’ll have grave consequences for state’s hospitals.
“We got all these legislators that are patting themselves on the back for doing something for the hospitals,” Black said. “When it comes out, they didn’t do anything. At least for us to get what was promised in the Senate bill is not what is taking place now.”
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Some of the state’s larger hospitals might be able to get their hands on some of the money. But it’s less likely that the state’s smaller, rural hospitals, who are in much more dire financial straits, will be able to.
“The whole intent of this was to help small rural hospitals,” Moore said. “That’s going to be much more of a challenge.”
Winston Medical Center was set to receive a little less than a million through the grant program. Because of the funding complications, the hospital actually won’t get anything at all.
“Unless the Department of Health comes up and finds out some way to get around some of the issues … as things sit right now, there’s no avenue for us to claim any money,” Black said.
The money would’ve been enough to cover about a month’s worth of payroll, Black said, but in the larger scheme of things, it would’ve helped Winston stay open until the end of the year and staunch the “slow bleed.”
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Winston, though, is in a far more stable financial state than many other rural hospitals.
Before the grant money and a big credit line approval, Greenwood Leflore Hospital was weeks from shutting down. It’s not clear how the new developments will affect its financial viability.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital’s interim CEO Gary Marchand discusses the challenges facing the hospital at Greenwood Leflore Hospital in Greenwood, Miss., Tuesday, February 14, 2022. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today
Gary Marchand, the hospital’s leader, said it was too early in the process to answer Mississippi Today’s questions, but said he believes the complications caused by the ARPA funding will just slow down when the hospital will receive its allocation.
“We understand MSDH is moving quickly,” Marchand said.
Hospitals can apply for the money during a one-month window that starts June 1. Edney said once a hospital’s application is approved, he’s hoping to get the money over immediately.
However, Black is more cynical about the reality of the situation.
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“That’s what they said when they passed the bill back in April, and now it’s the end of May going into June,” Black said. “If anybody gets it by September, it’ll be a miracle.”
Unless a special session is called to address the funding issue, Moore and Black are looking toward the next legislative session for help. They’re hoping that most hospitals survive until then and that state leaders come around to seeing the economic advantages to expanding Medicaid in Mississippi, which would bring millions of dollars to the state’s hospitals.
“The analogy I keep thinking about is Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football,” Black said. “Lucy holds the ball for Charlie Brown to kick, and at the last minute, she pulls it back. He falls on his rear end.
“That’s what this has been like.”
Reporter Geoff Pender contributed to this story.
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Editor’s note: This story was updated after publishing with a statement from Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
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A 41-year-old man incarcerated at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County died Thursday of an apparent overdose.
Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain confirmed the death in a news release.
The man was identified as Juan Gonzalez. According to prison records, he was serving a four-year sentence on multiple convictions in Hinds County and was tentatively scheduled for release in May 2025.
“Because of the unknown nature of the substance, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Mississippi Department of Health were notified,” MDOC reported.
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The investigation into Gonzalez’s death remains ongoing.
Mississippi’s 2024 alligator hunting season got off to a whopping start when a team of six hunters reeled in one of the largest monsters ever caught in the state.
The 14-foot-long, 802-pound alligator was caught in the Yazoo River, which stretches over 2,000 miles through Mississippi and Louisiana.
The group stood proudly with their catch for photographs, and all six were needed to hold up the lifeless creature.
The yearly hunt kicked off last month and is set to run until September 9, allowing participants to take home their prize for ‘wallets, belts and eating,’ according to state rules.
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The group reeled in the alligator last week in the dead of night. Officials determine the creature measured 14 feet long and weighed over 800 pounds
There are more than 3,700 people participating in the 2024 hunt, with an average of five to six people on each team.
The rules state that permit holders may harvest up to two alligators over four feet long, but only one can be longer than seven feet.
The largest a alligator ever recorded was 19 feet, two inches long and weighed more than 2,300 pounds when it was caught in in Louisiana in 1890.
However, the most recent monster was captured in Arkansas by Mike Cottingham in 2021.
Cottingham claimed the beast was 13 feet, three inches long and weighed 1,380 pounds.
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The largest in Mississippi, killed in 2023, was about three inches longer than the one captured this year.
The team, which included Megan Sasser, braved torrential rains to capture the 60-year-old beast.
In a social media post, Sasser said she and her team are ‘still over the moon’ after reeling in the reptile last Friday.
‘We sat through a monsoon for over 3 hours… crunched 2 poles, survived the death roll a few times, displaced everything in the boat, and still managed to bring this monster home,’ she continued.
Brandi Robinson, also part of the winning team, explained that the giant alligator was spotted 250 yards away from the boat.
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Mississippi holds the hunt each year, allowing participants to capture no more than two alligators
Brandi Robinson (pictured), also part of the winning team, explained that the giant alligator was spotted 250 yards away from the boat
‘Everyone’s binoculars were immediately glued! It was a big one and we all knew that,’ she said, as reported by The State.
The boat slowly made its way toward the giant creature and the team waited for about 45 minutes for it to come back to the surface before wrestling with for about an hour.
It is not clear what tools were used to capture the alligator, but hunters can use everything from snatch hooks to harpoons and even firearms.
The six-person team loaded their catch into the boat and brought it to a local meat processing company, Red Antler.
After taking pictures with the prized gator, the team took it to a local meat processing facility
‘In the last five years, we here at Red Antler have processed probably about 3,000 alligators, and we have only got two that were over the 14-foot in length measurement,’ Shane Smith, owner of Red Antler Processing, told McClatchy News.
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The team took most of the meat home and donated the rest to Hunter Harvest, a nonprofit organization that gives hunted and harvested meat to families in need.
Sasser also shared a picture of her and the alligator on Facebook where friends called it a ‘monster.’
However, not everyone was thrilled to see the giant catch.
One Facebook user commented: ‘That gator had to be at least 50 years old to have gotten that big. Such a shame. He’s a beautiful animal.’