Mississippi Medicaid drops more than 18,000 kids from its rolls
New data shows Mississippi children could be the group most affected by Medicaid’s continuous unwinding. According to the Mississippi Division of Medicaid’s monthly enrollment reports, 18,710 children have recently been dropped from Medicaid, most of them due to unwinding. “It’s very troubling to see that children are the vast majority of those losing Medicaid coverage […]
Mississippi now has two designated burn centers. What happens next?
The state Health Department deemed Mississippi Baptist Medical Center qualified to host a burn center, health system officials announced at a press conference Thursday. But with almost half of Baptist’s burn center requirements not fully met and millions from the state Legislature in flux, there’s still a long way to go. Since the state’s only […]
‘Very problematic’: Medicaid drops another 22,000 Mississippians, mostly for paperwork issues
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid removed another 22,000 Mississippians from its rolls in July in the second wave of disenrollments after the end of pandemic-era protections. That brings the agency up to 51,967 disenrollments total during the unwinding process, with those numbers set to increase. Beginning in March 2020, federal law prohibited state divisions of […]
UMMC chief to remain at helm for another four years
Dr. LouAnn Woodward will continue to lead the University of Mississippi Medical Center, one of the state’s largest employers and its only academic health science center, for another four years. Trustees on the Institutions of Higher Learning board, which governs all universities and colleges in Mississippi, unanimously approved the Chancellor of the University of Mississippi’s […]
Mississippi has the worst HPV vaccine uptake in the nation, and women are dying of preventable cancer
The vaccine with the poorest track record in the U.S. has its worst uptake in Mississippi. Nearly 20 years after the first FDA-approved HPV vaccine was introduced to the public, Mississippi has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer deaths in the country. The Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine protects against the nine most […]
Clarksdale health department, once possibly poised to close, gets a new building
Instead of potentially closing, the Coahoma County Health Department is moving to a nicer, newer home. The move to a building at the local hospital will preserve public health care in Clarksdale, the heart of the Mississippi Delta and a region with unique health needs. As health departments across the state struggle, the relocation is an […]
Their families said they needed treatment. Mississippi officials threw them in jail without charges.
This article contains detailed descriptions of mental illness and suicide. If you or someone you know needs help: Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 Text the Crisis Text Line from anywhere in the U.S. to reach a crisis counselor: 741741 This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Mississippi Today. […]
UMMC document shows plan to correct burn center deficiencies
The University of Mississippi Medical Center, approved in April to host the state’s next burn center, didn’t fully meet almost a third of the required criteria. However, an expert said that wasn’t uncommon, and UMMC filed a corrective action plan following the visit which lists steps UMMC will take in the following months to get […]
Mississippi remains an outlier in jailing people with serious mental illness without charges
This article contains descriptions of threats of violence and mental illness. If you or someone you know needs help: Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 Text the Crisis Text Line from anywhere in the U.S. to reach a crisis counselor: 741741 This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Mississippi […]
Q&A: Growing Resilience in the South founder Sadé Meeks
Like so many good things, Growing Resilience In The South (GRITS) was born at Sadé Meeks’ grandmother’s kitchen table. Several years ago, the South Jackson native, a registered dietitian, was working a traditional job in her field and realizing that there was a disconnect between the information she wanted and needed to provide to patients […]