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Mississippi has a burn center again after the University of Mississippi Medical Center established the Mississippi Burn Center on its campus in Jackson. The state has not had a burn center since last October, when the JMS Burn Center at Merit Health Central in Jackson closed its doors.
Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is not sure whether Blue Cross Blue Shield or the University of Mississippi Medical Center will prevail in the ongoing reimbursement dispute that has thousands of Mississippians out of network at the state’s flagship public hospital. But with the 2023 legislative session on the horizon, he has a bill in mind to keep it from happening again.
A contract dispute over reimbursement rates between the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi will likely result in the hospital going out of network tomorrow on April 1. This move would cause a serious spike in the cost of health-care services for customers of one of the state’s largest insurers at Mississippi’s largest public hospital system.
The omicron surge has become severe enough, considering the latent damage to the state’s health-care system from nearly two years of pandemic care, that MSDH has restarted the mandatory rotation protocol that allows centralized diversion of high-severity cases.
Mississippi has once again added more cases in one day than any other in the pandemic, now leading the world in rampant transmission of the virus. In response, the University of Mississippi Medical Center has moved up its timeline to ensure its entire workforce is vaccinated.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center is offering free monoclonal antibody infusion treatment to Mississippians with symptomatic COVID-19 without the need for a doctor’s visit in an attempt to stave off additional hospitalizations and deaths in the depths of the delta surge.
With COVID-19 patients overflowing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, including in its pediatric center, hospital leaders are warning that the medical system statewide could be on the verge of failing without drastic intervention. Two days ago, Mississippi health officials announced that zero intensive-care beds remained available in hospitals statewide.
Employees, students and contractors at the University of Mississippi Medical Center have a choice ahead of them: Get the COVID-19 vaccine or find somewhere else to work. The state’s largest hospital system will be mandating the vaccine in phases, and once the emergency use authorization for the vaccine is lifted, it will be mandatory.
Mississippi is in the midst of the worst blood shortage in decades, leaving hospitals bereft of vital supplies for trauma patients and surgeries, presenting a severe threat to the safety and well-being of every resident of the state. Medical professionals are calling for new blood donors to help Mississippi protect its dwindling supply of medical blood.
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