More Mississippi county health departments could lose clinical services

By Gwen Dilworth | Originally published by Mississippi Today

As funding challenges persist, Mississippi health officials may cut clinical services at more county health departments. 

If taken, this step would continue changes the Mississippi State Department of Health made after the Legislature in 2023 denied the department’s request for $9 million to hire the nurses needed to fully staff county health departments and send nurses into the homes of low-income women with high-risk pregnancies. 

“Our goal is not to retreat from anywhere, just restructure and reorganize,” State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney told Board of Health members at a meeting Oct. 14. 

Greg Flynn, a spokesperson for the health department, told Mississippi Today on Monday he could not say which counties are being considered for changes because the adjustments are still a “work in progress.” 

Edney said several county health departments with nurses on staff are seeing patient volumes too low to sustain that level of care. Other clinics, he said, may be able to support a physician or nurse practitioner and be upgraded to a higher level of service. 

During legislative budget hearings earlier this month, the health department requested level funding from lawmakers for the upcoming fiscal year, the third consecutive year the agency has not asked for a major increase. 

County health departments currently offer three levels of care as part of a reorganization Edney previously called a “pathway for survival.” 

• Level 3 clinics, or “super clinics,” have a doctor or nurse practitioner on staff and offer a full range of services.
• Level 2 clinics have a nurse on staff and offer limited clinical services and telehealth appointments with providers. 
• Level 1 clinics do not have a clinician on staff, but offer federal programming for women and children. They serve as “access points” to other locations and may host occasional immunization events with nurses.

County health departments’ levels are not listed on the department’s website. Mississippi Today published a map in 2025 of department levels.

Edney said it is less costly to transport patients to a higher-level clinic than to provide a full range of services in every county. He said the state agency aims to be strategic in its planning to ensure that patients are close to a level 2 or level 3 clinic. 

All of the counties operating at a lower level of service have federally qualified health center partners providing access to low-cost healthcare, Edney said. 

“Our job is filling gaps, closing access loops and partnering with our community partners, and not competing,” he said. 

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article