Greenwood Leflore Hospital is warning that it could be forced to close at the end of this month after the Mississippi Division of Medicaid requested permission to withhold millions of dollars in payments to GLH.
GLH, which is located in Greenwood, Mississippi, has filed for bankruptcy protection and is in the midst of negotiations with the University of Mississippi Medical Center for a takeover. The Institutions for Higher Learning Board of Trustees on Thursday unanimously approved a proposal to receive all GLH property as a donation, at no cost to UMMC. The proposal must also be approved by the Greenwood City Council and the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
However, Gary Marchand, a GLH consultant and its former interim CEO, said in a statement to the Mississippi Free Press on Thursday that the Division of Medicaid’s request to withhold $2.4 million in Mississippi Hospital Access Program payments threatens to make the deal dead on arrival.
“In the event GLH were to close, it would negatively impact a core foundation of any transaction with a larger system,” Marchand said. “The result is the inability to bill DOM for services provided to Medicaid recipients in future months. Any new operator would have to be re-credentialed to provide services to Medicaid recipients and this process could take six months or more.”
The hospital warns that without the payment, it will deplete its remaining cash reserves and will close on June 30. GLH had previously extended its projected lifeline to the end of July while its negotiations with UMMC continued. GLH has attempted to stave off closure for years by slashing services, laying off employees and using $7.5 million of a $10 million line of credit opened in Leflore County’s name.
On Wednesday, the Division of Medicaid entered an adversary filing in the hospital’s ongoing bankruptcy case and asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi Selene D. Maddox for permission to withhold the MHAP payments.
The conflict between the two sides goes back to last summer when DOM began clawing back MHAP overpayments based on a recalculation of the hospital’s patient volumes in 2024. MHAP is a supplemental, state-directed payment program for hospitals that includes a federal share and a state share. The program provides additional Medicaid funding in addition to regular reimbursements.
DOM explains in supplemental filings with the bankruptcy court that GLH owed $5.5 million for 2024 and still owes approximately $3 million. The clawbacks would have continued, but the Hinds County Chancery Court issued a stay of the recoupments. That case has since been removed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. It is a separate case from the hospital’s bankruptcy, but DOM notes it is seeking a “somewhat advisory opinion” of the bankruptcy court.
Meanwhile, the legal battle does not preclude GLH from continued participation in MHAP, which is ongoing. DOM maintains that the original Hinds County Chancery Court order pausing recoupments only applies to the 2024 overpayments and does not apply to ongoing MHAP payments, which DOM describes as “simple withholding.”
“The Division of Medicaid has lost sight of the fact (that) this hospital is maintaining access to physician clinics, emergency room, inpatient and surgical care for the residents of the Central Delta region of the state. We have no other words,” Marchand said in the statement.
A spokesperson for the Division of Medicaid did not respond to a request for comment before press time Thursday.
GLH has asked U.S. District Judge Kristi H. Johnson to either remand its case back to Hinds County Chancery Court to allow that court to rule on DOM’s request or, if it remains in Johnson’s court, for her to order DOM to continue the payments and enforce the recoupment stay.
GLH serves a population of roughly 25,000 people, about 75% of whom are Black. The nearest hospital is 30 miles north in Grenada, which is also a UMMC affiliate.
Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ ongoing coverage of Greenwood Leflore Hospital at this link.
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