Multiple hospitals across the Magnolia State are currently experiencing financial turmoil, which could likely cause several to shut down in the near future, according to one expert.
During a Monday interview on The Gallo Show, Tim Moore, President and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA), actually specified the number of hospitals that are on the brink of shutting down completely. He is concerned that these hospitals, some reportedly bigger ones, could possibly close their doors by mid-2023.
“We’ve got, probably in the neighborhood of five to six, that could be in serious concern of closure by the end of the summer,” Moore said. “They’re not all small hospitals. Some of them would be larger hospitals.”
Though Moore was not at liberty to name most of the medical entities on the verge of closure, he did cite Greenwood Leflore Hospital as one in financial peril.
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As to why these medical facilities are experiencing such economic crises, Moore attributes an inability for the hospitals’ revenue stream to match expenditures. While multifactorial, a bulk of the issue lies at the hands of costs for staffing and supplies.
Moore noted that over half of a hospital’s staff is non-clinical, meaning the majority of employees are not involved in patient care. The MHA president partially blames government regulations for the high volume of employees, which causes the hospital to foot a large bill.
Inflation has also been a financial dagger to systems in the Magnolia State. Moore claims that hospital expenses have increased by 15 to 20 percent, while revenues have either remained flat or have maxed out around five percent, which is still a loss.
“We have increased the costs so much that it’s making it a bigger challenge each and every day to run a hospital,” Moore said. “It is a revenue problem because costs have gone up so rapidly and so high that revenue did not keep up with it. We have to solve that revenue problem so that we can stabilize things to make changes.”
Watch the full interview with Moore below.
