HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – The Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform shows that 34 of Mississippi’s 74 Rural Hospitals are struggling financially and at risk of closure.

This was one of the big topics today at the health literacy panel at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Students asked questions about rural health care and panelists gave examples of challenges Mississippi Delta residents are facing.

“Overcoming social determinants, like transportation, making sure they got their medicine, making sure they got to the specialist,” said Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney. “I can’t tell you how many times someone would come back, they were supposed to have seen the cardiologist and they haven’t even got an appointment yet.”

Healthcare professionals from across the state visited to inform students and those in the community about being aware of what’s going on with their health.

“As we invest in our infrastructure which includes hospitals and clinics, we also have to invest in our people, but it all works together to bring good to the people of MS and the economy of MS,” Edney said. “These bad outcomes where we lead the nation in virtually every outcome, they are incredibly expensive to the economy of MS,” he said.

The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Southern Miss, Chris Winstead, says the school is making sure students recognize the need for rural healthcare providers in the state.

“I do think that having experts such as this weigh in and engage our students, engage our future generation of leaders so that they become familiar with the problems and the students that were in this room today, may be the ones that finally figure all of this out,” Edney said. “So, for us as a university, that’s what we can do is to help inspire that next generation.”

For more information about Rural Healthcare in Mississippi, click HERE.

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