More than a year later, hospitals receive remainder of state grant to offset COVID-19 losses

After a series of roadblocks, hospitals across the state have received millions of dollars in grant funding allotted to them by the state Legislature in 2023. 

Over 100 Mississippi hospitals – or 97.4% of eligible facilities – received grants ranging from $12,356 to $1 million, meant to offset the challenges health care facilities faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Though lawmakers intended to award hospitals $103 million, the grants ultimately totaled just over $81 million.

State officials responsible for administering the money breathed a sigh of relief at a recent State Board of Health meeting, marking the successful disbursement of the last funds to 32 additional hospitals. The Mississippi Hospital Sustainability Grant is “done and done, never to be spoken of again,” said State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney. 

Initially lauded as a boon for hospitals in dire financial straits, lawmakers created the grant program last year. Legislators originally intended to fund the grant with state money, but somewhere in the legislative process, the funding source was switched to federal COVID-19 relief money. That switch made some hospitals ineligible to receive the money.

The State Health Department distributed $61.9 million of the money to hospitals under the 2023 law, but many hospitals that expected to receive help were left out because they did not meet federal requirements. 

This spring, legislators passed a corrective bill authorizing $20.4 million from the state’s general fund to hospitals left in the lurch by the statute’s error last year.

The state ended up doling out $19.5 million in payments to the remaining hospitals under the 2024 bill. 

Those hospitals used the funds for a range of purposes.

Charles Weissinger, board attorney for Sharkey Issaquena Community Hospital in Rolling Fork, said the $750,000 grant helped the health care center “make the payroll and pay the light bill” after a tornado destroyed the hospital in March 2023. The hospital is currently operating out of a National Guard Armory. 

Alicia Carpenter, spokesperson for Merit Health, which operates nine facilities in Mississippi, said that three of its facilities received funds. Merit Health Rankin in Brandon was left out of the mix in the first round because it did not meet grant requirements.

Under the remedial law, however, the hospital received $750,000. 

“The Mississippi Hospital Sustainability Grant funding comes at a crucial time and will greatly assist us in addressing the ongoing challenges we face, particularly those intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said. 

Edney said administering the grant was challenging for the State Department of Health.

“It was a big headache for us, but it made a significant impact,” said Edney. 

“…We were able to get it done, and because of that over $60 million dollars of federal funds were able to be used rather than state funds.” 

The program was first proposed in a slate of bills introduced by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann aimed at saving Mississippi’s failing rural hospitals. 

Rural hospitals in Mississippi are struggling. A recent report indicates that 25 rural hospitals in the state are at immediate risk of closing. Over half of rural hospitals in the state face a risk of closure and 64% have experienced a loss on the services they provide. 

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