Q&A with maternal fetal medicine doctor on health care for moms in Mississippi
Dr. Michelle Owens, a maternal fetal medicine specialist, is currently the National Secretary for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the president of the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure and the clinical director at Mae Health. She has been practicing as an OB-GYN in Mississippi since 2004. Owens spoke with reporter Pam […]
Mississippi ranks as the unhealthiest state in the entire country, again
For yet another year, Mississippi’s health system performance has been deemed the worst in the country. The comprehensive annual report from the Commonwealth Fund, a private health care research foundation, ranked Mississippi as one of the worst states for a number of health categories, including reproductive and women’s health and racial health equity, based on […]
Patients, advocates worry more people will end up in jail or without treatment following St. Dominic behavioral health closure
Julie Whitehead of Brandon is a longtime patient of St. Dominic’s behavioral health services. After being admitted to the hospital following a suicide attempt in 2006, Whitehead was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She was admitted again six times over the next 15 years. “Each one of those times, if I had not been admitted to […]
‘It’s so much a death sentence’: Stroke victim waited 90 minutes for an ambulance in Jackson.
Donna Echols had just returned to her north Jackson home from her eldest son’s fairytale wedding in the Bahamas and expected to greet the groom’s father who had stayed behind to watch the house and her pets. What she didn’t expect was the start of an emotional rollercoaster. That night, April 27, Echols found her […]
St. Dominic and Singing River CEOs resign
The CEOs of two of the state’s largest hospital systems are resigning. Scott Kashman, head of St. Dominic Memorial Hospital in Jackson, and Tiffany Murdock, head of Singing River Health System on the Gulf Coast, have both announced they are leaving their positions. According to spokespeople at both health systems, the CEOs’ decisions were made […]
The revolving door at Mississippi’s hospitals: CEO turnover rate is high
Hospital CEOs are leaving at increasingly higher rates in Mississippi since the pandemic. The state’s hospital CEO turnover rate was 17% in 2021, according to the most recently available data from the American College of Healthcare Executives. The percentage has been creeping upward since 2019. It went from 10%, considered a “low” turnover rate by […]
A quarter of Mississippi’s rural hospitals could close within three years, report shows
Mississippi’s struggling rural hospitals haven’t improved their financial outlook much over the past quarter, a newly updated report shows. A report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform shows that about a third of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are still at risk of closure, and over a half of those still at risk of […]
This clinic is making emergency contraception easier to access in Mississippi
GREENWOOD – There’s a truck parked in the gravel lot of Greenwood Community Center, muddy from a recent spring shower. From the outside, it’s easy to overlook. But inside, people who need it are being provided critical, hard to access health care. Plan A operates the mobile clinic that travels the Delta, offering free family […]
Woman imprisoned for 25 years attempts freedom again, citing Mississippi Today reporting
Attorneys for a woman convicted of capital murder in the death of her then-fiance’s son are once again asking the court for a new trial. This time, the request is partly based on what defense attorneys say is contradictory testimony made by child abuse pediatrician Dr. Scott Benton, as first reported in Mississippi Today’s “Shaky […]
Mississippi moves from last to 33rd in developmental screenings of kids
For years, Mississippi children were more likely to miss out on early childhood development screenings than anywhere else in the country. But after a $17-million federal grant and the work of a state health childhood development project, Mississippi’s early childhood screening rate shot up from dead-last to No. 33, according to ranking by the National […]