Reeves announces $104M in rural health funding for facility and technology improvements
By Gwen Dilworth | Originally published by Mississippi Today
Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday announced 167 awards together worth over $104 million to providers across Mississippi for projects aimed at improving rural health care.
The projects are a part of the state’s first three grant opportunities for healthcare providers funded by the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. The awards, which represent over half of the state’s funding through the program for this year, will be used to help rural hospitals, health clinics, mental health practitioners and other providers make facility improvements, expand service offerings, upgrade technology systems, bolster cybersecurity defenses and increase telehealth capacity. Reeves posted a full list of the awardees to his website Monday.
“When you step back and look at these projects together, you really see something bigger than a list of grants,” Reeves said at a Monday press conference at his office. “You see a strategy built around Mississippi.”
Mississippi was awarded nearly $206 million in December as a part of the national $50 billion program. States will receive payments over five years for initiatives designed to bolster rural healthcare and offset the disproportionate impact that federal spending cuts Congress passed and that President Donald Trump signed into law in July 2025 are expected to have on rural hospitals.
The state received over 700 applications from 236 organizations for the initial three grant opportunities offered as a part of the program. Nearly 500 eligible applications requested roughly $450 million.
Though the governor’s office initially allocated about $80 million for the grants, it increased the budget to $104 million in response to the high demand.
The state’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes the Delta, most of Jackson and southwestern Mississippi, will receive roughly a third of the funding. Fifty-two projects were selected for roughly $31 million in funding.
Healthcare providers in Jackson and other urban areas received funding because they serve rural communities in Mississippi and provide access to specialty and advanced care, Reeves said.
“It can seem counterintuitive, but sometimes the smartest investment in rural healthcare isn’t necessarily physically located in a rural community,” he said.
Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District, which includes the northeastern portion of the state, received the smallest amount of funding by district, amounting to $16 million for 32 awards.
Applications for the funding were submitted in July, and recipients will have less than a year — until July 2027 — to use the funding.
Reeves said the scoring rubrics used to grade applications will soon be available for the public to view.
Mississippi’s funding plan includes a statewide rural health assessment and other initiatives to coordinate care, strengthen the workforce, create a statewide health information exchange, expand telehealth opportunities and improve infrastructure.
Reeves is overseeing the distribution of the funds through the state’s newly established Rural Health Transformation Program Office, making Mississippi one of two states where the governor’s office directly manages the distribution of the money. Some lawmakers and other stakeholders have expressed disapproval over the governor’s control of the funds.
“Governors know our state best, and governors know how to set priorities,” he said Monday.
Awardees for several other grant programs, including $16.8 million for four grant programs aimed at addressing critical healthcare workforce shortages in rural communities and $14 million to create calm, therapeutic units at hospital emergency departments to improve crisis mental healthcare, will be awarded in 30 to 45 days, Reeves said.
Reeves said Mississippi has submitted its request for second-year funding as part of the Rural Health Transformation Program to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and expects to receive word of the funding amount by November.
Rural health pilot programs
Reeves in August announced pilot efforts that will use Rural Health Transformation Program dollars to combat obesity, serve obstetric care deserts and expand mental health services in rural Mississippi. The programs will operate through partnerships with the state Department of Health and Department of Mental Health.
Reeves said Monday some, but not all, of the agreements have been signed, and staff will soon shift their attention to the programs.
The Department of Mental Health in August signed interagency agreements with the Governor’s Office to oversee pilot programs to improve crisis mental healthcare at hospitals, establish a new telehealth program for veterans and first responders and expand access to training for behavioral healthcare staff.
Funding amounts for the agreements with the Department of Mental Health obtained by Mississippi Today were redacted. Katie Storr, chief of staff for the Department of Mental Health, said the amounts were not disclosed because the agency is not required to disclose them while preparing for or conducting competitive procurement, and the amounts could change.
Two pilot programs will provide funding to crisis diversion centers located in Purvis and Pascagoula. These facilities serve as short-term inpatient facilities to care for and monitor people experiencing acute mental health or substance use crises, and act as an alternative to holding people in crisis in jails or treating them in emergency departments.
The facilities selected for the funding demonstrated a need for additional capacity, are close to being ready to accept patients and have the support of local officials, Department of Mental Health spokesperson Adam Moore said to Mississippi Today in an email.
“Our goal is to create more options for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis so that emergency departments, jails, and inpatient psychiatric hospitals are not the default simply because a more appropriate level of care is unavailable,” he said.
The Purvis facility, which will serve Lamar, Forrest, Marion and Perry counties, will have 16 inpatient beds and a new, ‘living room’ area for de-escalation during shorter stays when a higher level of care is not necessary. The facility has finished construction but lacks the funds necessary to operate and fill vacant positions, Forrest County Sheriff Charlie Sims told Mississippi Today.
Moore said Forrest and Lamar counties have among the highest numbers of people held in jail prior to admission to a state hospital, demonstrating a high need for the facility. Rita Porter, adult services director at Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources, added in an email that currently, many individuals must be transported to crisis stabilization programs outside the area.
The Pascagoula facility run by South Mississippi Mental Health Center will use the funding to expand its existing location from eight to 16 beds. The funds will also strengthen nursing and security capacity, allowing the program to serve individuals with more complex needs, Moore said. He added that Jackson County, where the facility is located, has the fourth-highest number of state hospital admissions in Mississippi.
The Department of Mental Health requested $650,000 from the state Legislature this year for the Pascagoula facility. Moore said the agency did not receive these funds from the state because the Rural Health Transformation Program provided an alternative opportunity for the funding.
Jackson County Chancery Clerk Josh Eldridge, who handles civil commitment affidavits and works closely with South Mississippi Mental Health Center, said in an Aug. 28 phone call with Mississippi Today he was hopeful the facility would receive the funds but had not yet been informed the facility was selected.
“If it’s a done deal, I need to start staffing up,” he said.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
