Although the House is balking, a proposal to fashion a regional body to run a voluntary collaboration of Delta hospitals remains alive in the Mississippi Legislature.
A House committee failed to act by Tuesday’s deadline on a Senate bill that would create the Delta Regional Health Authority to take over control of any community hospital in the region that wanted to be part of a multi-hospital group rather than continuing to go it alone.
The House instead has wanted to create a 20-member task force to study the idea further.
The Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Committee, however, last week reinserted its language back into the House bill. As a result, the Senate version goes back to its full chamber for another vote. If it passes there by next Wednesday, it will be returned to the House for consideration.
The proposal, which is being advocated by the regional development organization Delta Council, is designed to address the hospital crisis in the region that has put several of them in financial peril, including most acutely Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
Frank Howell, the CEO of Delta Council, said his organization will continue to try to persuade lawmakers that the time to act is now, rather than pushing the problem off to more study.
“We just will continue to visit with lawmakers and leadership and stress the importance of the health authority for the Delta,” he said. “We’re excited that we’re still alive and have a compelling story to tell.”
Participation in the Delta Regional Health Authority would be voluntary. Hospitals that join would still be owned by their local governments, but they would be turning over most of the control to the authority’s board and the day-to-day management to the chief executive officer that board hires. The CEO would have the power to hire and fire, and the authority would determine what medical services are offered where.
The hospitals would continue to have their own boards as well, but their powers would be much more limited and largely determined by the regional authority’s board.
Five members of the authority’s board would be appointed by the governor or lieutenant governor. There could be up to six additional members, which would come largely from communities whose hospitals participate.
- Article credit Tim Kalich, Greenwood Commonwealth.
