JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi is one of only two states where the governor’s office helps administer the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, a Princeton University research team told lawmakers Thursday, lawmakers said.
Jamila McLean, director of health equity for State Health and Value Strategies at Princeton University, told a joint House and Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee meeting that Mississippi has shown a lack of transparency in how it established and approved the program. McLean called Mississippi an “outlier” in the information available about how program funds are being spent, according to lawmakers.
State Rep. Samuel Creekmore, R., chairman of the House Public Health and Welfare Committee, told Magnolia Tribune that Richard Grimes, director of the Mississippi Rural Health Transformation Program, had been scheduled to testify but was unable to attend Thursday. Creekmore said Grimes told the committee he could meet next week and that a session is set for June 4 at 2:30 p.m.
As part of the federal application process, Gov. Tate Reeves created the Mississippi Rural Health Transformation Program Office and appointed Grimes as director, Reeves said. The state received $205 million in the first of five years of grants aimed at expanding rural health care access; total awards to Mississippi over the five-year cycle are expected to reach $1 billion, according to materials presented to the committee.
Reeves said in a Facebook post that the first three grant opportunities will focus on capital investments to address rural health care gaps, expanding telehealth and strengthening health care technology and infrastructure. Reeves wrote that information about the opportunities will be shared beginning June 1, that applications will open June 15 and close July 15, and that awards will be released in August. Reeves also vetoed Senate Bill 2477 this session — a bill by Sen. Hob Bryan, D., that would have required competitive bidding for a state health information exchange and quarterly legislative reports on Rural Health Transformation Program spending — saying the measure risked jeopardizing millions in federal funding.
The Princeton presentation also said three states — Mississippi, New Mexico and Colorado — did not seek public input when establishing their programs, and that Mississippi and Rhode Island were the only states where the executive branch had a role in administering the program, lawmakers said. Creekmore said the presentation suggested the program in Mississippi has been run with limited legislative input.
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
