Louisville, Miss.-based Winston Medical Center CFO Matt Woodward said that Gov. Tate Reeves' Medicaid reform plan will not do enough to help struggling rural hospitals in the state, Super Talk Mississippi reported Sept. 26.
The reforms, which Mr. Reeves said could generate $690 million for hospitals and health systems in the state, were announced by the governor Sept. 21. The plan calls for the Mississippi Hospital Access Program to provide direct payments to hospitals providing care within the Mississippi Medicaid managed care delivery system.
Additionally, the proposal calls for supplementing Medicaid base payments by reimbursing inpatient and outpatient hospital services at the upper limit.
However, some hospital officials seem to agree with Mr. Reeves' Democratic opponents that the reform plans come too late.
"Healthcare is largely considered by most in the industry as a complete failure by the Reeves administration – most notably, rural healthcare," Mr. Woodward said. "The announcement of Gov. Reeves' Medicaid reimbursement reform on Sept. 21 did very little to change that. In fact, it was a slap in the face to most all of the small rural hospitals around the state."