William Carey's Rural Health Summit offers insight to improved medical care in rural areas
With more and more medical facilities struggling to stay afloat in rural areas, William Carey University's College of Osteopathic Medicine is doing what it can to find solutions.
This week, the university held its third Rural Health Summit to bring awareness not only to the issues surrounding the lack of medical care in rural areas but also to inspire its students and community leaders to help change the narrative.
Many hospitals in the state's rural communities are struggling to stay afloat. Some have had to cut services and others are considering closing their doors, not just from the lack of revenue but because fewer doctors are willing to work in rural areas.
One of the ways WCU is leading the charge is by sending its third- and fourth-year students to rural areas for the second half of their medical training.
"One of the things we're looking at is being a pipeline to these hospitals," said Dr. Italo Subbarao, dean of WCU's College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Another measure that has been successful is recruiting medical students from the areas that are in need, since they have a stronger connection with those areas and are more likely to stay.
Dr. Ilse Levin, an American Medical Association board member was among the guests slated to speak at the summit.
"We know that only about 4.3% of medical students currently are from rural communities," Levin said. "Trying to get someone to stay in the community if they're not from there is that much harder."
Levin said reaching out to potential students while they are in elementary and high school to get them thinking about a career in healthcare is important to recruiting.
"We can start that interest in working in healthcare sooner," she said.
Levin would also like to see local colleges and universities offer programs that would feed into medical schools so students can start their healthcare education closer to home.
Another need is having positions for training slots in different specialty areas, Levin said.
In addition to staffing issues, reforming Medicare reimbursements is key to keeping rural hospitals financially sound. The amount that hospitals are reimbursed for patient care does not always reflect the actual cost, which creates a financial loss that some hospitals are not able to absorb.
On Thursday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced the state would implement two measures that would increase funding to struggling hospitals through improved Medicaid reimbursements.
Through the Mississippi Hospital Access Program, the state will provide direct payments to hospitals serving patients in the Mississippi Medicaid managed care delivery system, the Clarion Ledger reported in an earlier story. With these directed payments, hospitals would be reimbursed near the average commercial rate.
In addition, the state plans to supplement Medicaid base payment rates for hospitals by reimbursing inpatient and outpatient hospital services in the fee-for-service system up to the Medicare upper payment limit.
It is through discussions like the ones at WCU's Rural Health Summit that help inform lawmakers and encourage them to make better decisions regarding healthcare funding in the state.
The university's second summit, held earlier this year, put a spotlight on maternal and infant health as well as the high mortality rates for both, especially in rural areas.
Subbarao said it was the conversations held during the earlier summit that helped the state's lawmakers understand the need for extended postnatal care.
The conversations helped with the building momentum for a new law extending Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one year after birth to provide additional medical support to lower-income mothers, Subbarao said.
"I believe that that summit was one of the dominoes that was in the last round that really helped us push that legislation forward," he said.
Other speakers at the summit included:
Kathleen Creason, CEO of the American Osteopathic Association
Dr. John Mitchell, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association
Dr. Anita Henderson a pediatrician with Hattiesburg Clinic
Dr. Stephen Farrow with the National Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute
Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.
This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Doctors, lawmakers, students discuss rural healthcare in MS
