On May 18, North Mississippi Health Services communicated its intent to withdraw at least four of the hospitals in its system from the Mississippi Hospital Association, according to multiple sources close to the situation.
The termination of membership includes North Mississippi Medical Center [the other three NMHS hospitals were not named — editor].
Locally, NMHS operates North Mississippi Medical Center-Eupora, Eupora Pediatric Clinic, Eupora Wellness Center, Eupora Family Medical Clinic and NMMC-Eupora Outpatient Rehabilitation.
On the heels of the NMMC decision, Magnolia Tribune learned two other hospital systems have also communicated their intent to leave MHA. The latest three hospital systems come after a wave of earlier hospitals that chose to disassociate with MHA.
Prior to the hospitals departing, MHA’s PAC made a $250,000 campaign contribution to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brand on Presley on April 27. The MHA PAC also committed $100,000 to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s re-election bid.
Through public record requests, letters of membership termination were obtained from many of the publicly owned hospitals that have withdrawn. None of the hospitals have directly attributed their departure to the donation to the Presley campaign. Each termination letter expressed a loss of confidence in MHA’s leadership and strategy.
MHA’s fiscal year ends June 30. The association receives large levels of funding through membership dues. These dues vary based on the size of hospital system, according to sources.
