The latest round of hospital closures and cuts suggest Mississippi’s health care “system is burning to the ground” while Gov. Tate Reeves rejects Medicaid expansion, Democratic candidate for governor Brandon Presley says.
“There is no end in sight to this crisis under Tate Reeves’ failed leadership. As governor, I will end Tate Reeves’ healthcare crisis once and for all by expanding Medicaid, which will keep hospitals open, provide affordable healthcare to 220,000 working Mississippians, and create thousands of good-paying jobs across our state,” the Democrat said in a July 14 statement.
KPC Promise Hospital in Vicksburg closed on June 8, Mississippi Today first reported on July 12. The next day, North Mississippi Health Services announced large-scale layoffs. On July 14, The Vicksburg Post reported that Merit Health River Region closed its behavior health unit in Warren County on June 30, transferring its 50 beds to Merit Health Central Mississippi in Jackson.
The Republican governor did not respond to an interview request for this story and has not made any public statements regarding KPC Promise’s closure, North Mississippi Health Services’ employee layoffs or Vicksburg’s loss of its mental health facility.
A May 2023 report from the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Center For Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform estimates that 47 of Mississippi’s 74 rural hospitals are at risk of losing services, while 27 are at risk of closing.
A ‘Dramatic Shift Occurring In Healthcare’
Merit Health owned the 35-bed, long-term care facility in Vicksburg that helped hospital patients who needed more care than a nursing home could provide.
Marketing spokesperson for Merit Health Melanie McMillan told the Mississippi Free Press that the hospital system closed KPC Promise due to “back rent issues.” She wasn’t able to confirm how many employees the hospital had or if Merit offered the staff members a job at another facility.
KPC Promise isn’t the only Mississippi hospital or health-care service that shut down in June. St. Dominic Hospital shut down its mental health unit on June 5. The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson also closed its LGBTQ+ clinic on June 30, but that was due to