COVID-19 Information

The Mississippi State Department of Health has activated the Mississippi COVID-19 hotline to answer questions from the general public from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The hotline number is 1-877-978-6453.

The Mississippi Hospital Association is working closely with the Mississippi State Department of Health and other state and federal agencies to provide hospitals and health systems with relevant information about the current status of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency to further ramp up Mississippi’s coordinated response across all levels of government and provide health officials and administrators with the necessary tools and guidance to combat the spread of COVID-19. The declaration enables the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to ramp up coordination among all state and local agencies and enable them to fast-track coordination at all levels of government in Mississippi. Gov. Reeves referenced our state's pandemic flu plan. 

• That plan is available here.
• You can track our state-specific numbers here.  

On March 13, the President declared a national emergency to free up $50 billion in federal resources. Here is a fact sheet that breaks down what that means for health care providers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is waiving the requirements that Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) limit the number of beds to 25 and that the length of stay be limited to 96 hours, among other measures.

MHA has created an email address, [email protected], for our members to send questions and comments to the Mississippi State Department of Health. We will make sure your questions get answered.

 

COVID-19 PartNer Updates

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided recent updates and/or released COVID-19 resources and meetings. 

View Complete List of Resources and Meetings

"While the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented spike in the number of virtual care visits, we are seeing that telehealth has staying power even as many people have returned to in-person appointments." — Donna O'Shea, MD, CMO, UnitedHealthcare Inc.

UnitedHealthcare says its members used virtual care 28 million times in 2021, a 2,500% increase from the pre-pandemic baseline. Local providers delivered 95% of those virtual care visits. Half of virtual visits were for behavioral health, and 63% of all behavioral health visits were done virtually, up from 1.5% pre-pandemic. Read the details here.

Also today, providers are using digital health tools to gather more data about their patients, but the challenge has always been how to use that information. Eric Wicklund reports.

UnitedHealthcare Sees 2.5K% Increase in Telehealth Usage

The payer's 2021 data show a massive increase in telehealth use when compared with pre-pandemic levels.