GREENWOOD, Miss.—Greenwood Leflore Hospital is now projecting a closure date of July 31, based on updated projections that the hospital released Thursday, giving the financially struggling medical center about two months of breathing room as it attempts to stay open. The announcement modifies its original projected closure date of June 15.
“Department heads were advised of the revised date at a 9 a.m. meeting on Thursday, June 4.
Department heads distributed notification letters to their employees following that meeting,” said Gary Marchand, former interim CEO of GLH and now executive consultant to the hospital, in a statement issued to the Mississippi Free Press on Thursday afternoon. Marchand added that “every effort is being made to assure the ongoing availability of healthcare services to residents of the service area.”
The hospital, based in Greenwood, Mississippi, serves Leflore County’s population of about 25,000 people, about 75% of whom are Black. It has teetered on the financial brink for years, with the latest devastating blow coming last year when the Mississippi Division of Medicaid announced clawbacks to the hospital’s Medicaid reimbursements because of recalculations of the hospital’s patient volumes.
GLH cut four services and laid off 86 employees in April, followed by filing for bankruptcy protection the following week. The hospital also issued notices to employees in mid-April warning that the hospital’s efforts to stay open may fail and result in a closure on June 15, which remained the official estimate until Thursday’s update.
The hospital has acknowledged in court filings that it is negotiating with the University of Mississippi Medical Center for some sort of relationship that could salvage the hospital’s future, though specific details have not been publicly revealed. Marchand said he had no comment on the matter in his statement, but local leaders have said they are supportive of a plan to hand over the publicly-owned hospital to new caretakers.
Past and current advocates have said some of GLH’s problems could have been avoided if Mississippi had expanded Medicaid. However, legislative efforts never materialized into law, and Republican leaders acknowledged this year that Medicaid expansion is dead in the water due to Medicaid budget cuts in President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
If GLH were to close, the nearest hospital is in Grenada, Mississippi, more than 30 miles away.
Read more coverage of the Mississippi Delta on our Delta Free Press bureau site.
Mississippi Free Press stories are always free because we believe everyone should have access to quality journalism. Donations from readers like you make that possible. Please click here to give to help sustain and grow vital, people-over-power journalism for Mississippians.
Readers can sign up for our free newsletters here.
