Gov. Tate Reeves (R) on Wednesday promoted a second round of application opportunities for Mississippi’s Rural Health Transformation Program, state officials said. The new round includes grants for an EMS Capacity Assessment, Psychiatric Emergency Services and a Workforce Expansion Initiative.
State officials said Mississippi received $206.5 million in federal funding in the program’s first round. During that period, 727 applications were submitted from 236 organizations, officials said. Officials said the state has until October to award first-round grants.
Reeves said Mississippi is expected to receive more than $1 billion over five years as part of a nationwide effort to fill gaps in health care access. State officials said the deadline to apply in the second round is July 24 for the EMS Capacity Assessment and Aug. 17 for the Psychiatric Emergency Services and Workforce Expansion Initiative grants.
AccelerateMS will work on the Workforce Expansion Initiative to recruit and train more health care workers, Dr. Courtney Taylor, executive director of AccelerateMS, said. Taylor said the effort will expose students to health care careers starting at the K-12 level and continue through community colleges and universities, and will include people already in the workforce. “The governor has tasked us, very simply, with working on things that get more people working, making higher wages,” Taylor said.
The Psychiatric Emergency Services grant program aims to help rural emergency rooms handle mental health crises, Dr. Wendy Bailey, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, said. Bailey said many emergency rooms are not equipped to provide specific psychiatric care and that the grants would create separate, calming spaces and speed access to care. “And within 15 minutes they are going to be seen by someone who can respond to the crisis,” Bailey said. Reeves said the EMS Capacity Assessment will support a health information exchange to improve regional coordination, boost the EMS workforce and develop a roadmap for emergency care in the state.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
