Mississippi’s largest hospital quietly left the Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative less than four months after it joined the group as a founding member. 

The University of Mississippi Medical Center no longer appears on the collaborative’s website. 

It is unclear if other hospital members will follow suit as they did in 2023 when UMMC terminated its membership with the Mississippi Hospital Association. 

UMMC and the Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative both declined to comment for this story. 

The change comes on the heels of the departure of Drew Snyder, the collaborative’s chief health policy officer, for a position as deputy administrator of the federal Medicaid program. 

The Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative has not announced a replacement. 

The new health care group was announced in November and united the hospitals that left the Mississippi Hospital Association, along with the state’s community health centers and several other hospital systems. 

The trade association splintered after the UMMC left in May 2023, with seven other hospitals following soon after. Four additional hospitals, all led by Gregg Gibbes, left the association in 2024.

UMMC cited concerns about transparency and communication in a letter to Mississippi Hospital Association announcing the medical center would be leaving. But many saw the exodus of hospitals as a rebuke of the association’s support for Medicaid expansion. 

The departure came just days after Mississippi’s hospital association’s political action committee made its largest-ever donation to then-gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley, a strong supporter of Medicaid expansion. 

Two UMMC locations – Grenada and Holmes County – remain members of the Mississippi Hospital Association. 

The Mississippi Health Collaborative’s advocacy agenda for this year’s legislative session includes closing Mississippi’s health care coverage gap as a legislative priority, according to a document obtained by Mississippi Today.

“Like most healthcare providers, Collaborative members support pathways to close the healthcare coverage gap, from traditional Medicaid expansion to other hybrid models,” it reads.  

Its agenda also includes increased trauma care system funding, certificate of need reforms and changes to health care provider taxes. 

The collaborative contracts with Jackson-based lobbying firm Capitol Resources’ health policy wing, Health Resources for lobbying and consulting services. 

Capitol Resources is a strong supporter of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. The firm’s political action committee has contributed over $70,000 to Reeves since 2018.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Faculty, staff and administrators at Mississippi’s colleges and universities are growing increasingly weary of the Trump Administration’s crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.

The far-reaching memos, directives and executive orders, issued at a rapid pace in the first month of Donald Trump’s presidency, have roiled campuses across the country and in Mississippi.

As one professor put it: “Can you please just let us do our jobs?”

It’s unlikely the chaos and confusion will end anytime soon. Last week, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights issued a sweeping memo declaring virtually all race-based programming and admissions policies illegal. This applies to all aspects of student, academic and campus life, including admissions, hiring, financial aid, campus cultural centers, housing and graduation ceremonies.

“Put simply, educational institutions may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race,” wrote Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights under Trump.

Schools, community colleges and universities have two weeks to comply with the directive or risk losing federal funding that supports research, student financial aid and other institutional operations.

The department issued the directive, an expanded interpretation of the recent Supreme Court decision overturning affirmative action in college admissions, in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter, a document that federal agencies use to issue new or updated legal interpretations. It is not a new regulation or law and is certain to face legal challenges, according to Inside Higher Ed.

That’s what some universities across the country are waiting for, while others have scrubbed their websites and changed programming, according to national reporting.

“It’s meant to create chaos in higher education, and in that it’s been successful,” Todd Wolfson, the president of the American Association of University Professors, told the New York Times. “The responses are all over the map.”

In Mississippi, universities do not use race-conscious admissions standards, the result of a historic settlement to desegregate the state’s higher education system.

But many of the universities have offered scholarships for underrepresented students and sponsored multicultural student organizations. Black student unions have existed for decades in Mississippi. These clubs are often funded through student fees, not state appropriations.

Still, it remains to be seen how the directive will affect higher education in Mississippi. Most faculty are hesitant to speak on the record for fear of seeming political. And the administrations are not speaking out, either. Every university contacted for this story did not respond to questions about if they planned to comply with the directive or what programming would be affected.

“The university is aware of the Department of Education’s recent ‘Dear Colleague’ letter and is reviewing how it may affect our campus,” a University of Mississippi spokesperson wrote in an email.

A spokesperson for the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees wrote in an email that the board is aware of the directive “and will await further legal guidance from the Department as noted in the letter.”

The University of Mississippi Medical Center’s communications director wrote in an email that “I believe IHL has responded to you on behalf of the system.”

“I understand that John Sewell provided you with a response from IHL, which we echo,” the University of Southern Mississippi wrote in an email.

Despite the widespread anxiety, faculty at some Mississippi universities are facing problems of a more local nature.

At the University of Southern Mississippi, the anxiety churned up by recent program cuts is taking precedence over national politics.

“We’re aware of the other thing,” said Jeremy Scott, the president of USM’s AAUP chapter.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi State makes a statement with a quality win over Ole Miss, improving their NCAA Tournament resume. Rick pontificates on the importance of the Dawgs win, as well as the opening weekend of college baseball and the direction of the new Saints regime.

Stream all episodes here.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.