A massive round of layoffs took place at a Mississippi hospital on Wednesday.
According to sources close to the situation, Jefferson County Hospital in Fayette laid off 16 employees as the hospital’s head administrator, Jerry Kennedy, told the board of trustees that the hospital is “on life support.”
Kennedy added that the hospital is over $3 million in debt, even though it received a $3.2 million stipend after being declared a Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) by the federal government in September 2023.
The news from Jefferson County Hospital comes as Mississippi continues to battle a healthcare crisis with nearly half of the state’s rural hospitals flirting with closure, per a recent study.
In the meantime, lawmakers in Jackson are debating different ideas – including Medicaid expansion – to ensure hospitals get paid for treating patients.
