Wayne General looks to collaborations to win grant money

By Paul Keane

The Wayne County News

Strength in numbers via collaboration may be the way rural hospitals 
best take advantage of money available through the "Big Beautiful 
Bill" that was passed last year. The bill has since been nicknamed the 
Families Tax Cuts Act by many politicians.

The bill provides $50 billion over five years, with the money spread 
across all 50 states. Right before the end of 2025, the State of 
Mississippi learned that it was receiving nearly $206 million as its 
first-year appropriation. The money is being administered by Governor 
Tate Reeves' office, with money being awarded through a competitive 
grant program. According to previous reports and press releases, the 
state plans to use the funds in the following areas:

• A statewide rural health assessment will refine investment 
strategies and align critical rural health needs with funding after a 
review of data and stakeholder input.

• To improve emergency response, coordination of care after discharge 
and access to behavioral health services, the coordinated regional 
integrated systems initiative will integrate emergency medical services, 
hospitals, public health and social services into regional healthcare 
districts.

• A workforce expansion initiative includes retention awards, 
residency expansion, preceptor development, early-career outreach and 
"Earn While You Learn" programs to recruit, retain and train 
clinicians, allied health professionals and support staff.

• The health technology advancement and modernization and telehealth 
adoption and provider support initiatives will modernize health internet 
technology and advance tele-health infrastructure, cybersecurity and 
consumer-facing tools to improve efficiency, coordination and access.

• The building rural infrastructure for delivery, growth and 
efficiency initiative will address capital investments, psychiatric 
emergency services and care gap closure. It will include pilot programs 
for early intervention, Autism Spectrum Disorder-focused, care 
management and value-based care programs, and capital investments will 
be aimed at expanding facility capacity and specialized services.

The money is considered an investment in rural health care, but some 
hospital administrators feel the best way to access and utilize the 
funds will be through teaming up with other healthcare facilities, 
saying that strength in numbers might make applications stronger and 
more appealing.

Wayne General Hospital Administrator Andrew Porter said he and his staff 
plan on pursuing all avenues in order to make rural healthcare in this 
region stronger.

"We will have to apply, and we're waiting on the details on how to 
apply and what state officials will be looking for," Porter said. 
"We work very diligently with our legislators and we have a good 
relationship with the Governor's office.

"We just want to show them that we are good stewards with the money 
given to us. We are also looking for collaborations with other 
facilities, especially many of the ones that we already work closely 
with."

Wayne General has partnered with Forrest General Hospital and 
Hattiesburg Clinic, among others, to bring services such as sports 
medicine, orthopedic services, cardiology services, dermatology and 
various other services to the area. Many of those services have been 
added to the hospital's overall roster over the past few years.

Porter said the funds from the rural health initiative at both the 
federal and state levels is pretty simple.

"It is my opinion that the intent of this is to give rural hospitals a 
chance to transform into sustainable models," he said. "We are going 
to apply for things that will be sustainable and make us a profit or 
save us substantial amounts of money."

David Williams — a partner with Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC, which 
handles certified accounting services for the majority of hospitals in 
Mississippi and even around the nation (including Wayne General) — 
said partnerships will will be crucial for rural healthcare facilities. 
He said many of the partnerships will include Federal Qualified 
Heathcare Centers.

"Some examples would center around professional employment and 
retention," Williams said. "There is also a statewide trauma system 
that is being developed with more integration, and that can be an area 
where facilities such as Wayne General can partner.

"Wayne General is a Level 4 facility right now, and they can partner 
with other facilities to enhance the trauma system that is in place. 
Right now, only UMMC (University of Mississippi Medical Center) is a 
Level 1 facility."

Just as Porter feels, Williams said any funding must be placed into 
programs that don't become "one and done" propositions that fade 
away when the funding ends. As it stand right now, facilities have two 
years to expend any funds awarded.

"This is not meant to be used to fill in a gap," Williams said. 
"They want these funds to put you on a course of continued 
sustainability. I feel it will make people think in different ways than 
they have done in the past."

Williams added that technology can be upgraded or purchased with the 
funds, but there are spending limits involved. One area where technology 
could really help is with insurance claims and billing by using 
artificial intelligence (AI) to match what insurance carriers are 
utilizing.

"Every hospital needs to be on a level playing field with the 
insurance companies when it comes to filing claims and providing 
information for claims," he said.

Porter said using any funds awarded for "one-time" programs would 
not be prudent. He pointed out that starting a new program needs to have 
a funding mechanism in place — meaning it needs to produce billing and 
insurance claims — in order to remain in place. If the money is used 
for a program or service that won't eventually produce revenue to 
support itself, then the intent of the grant money would be wasted once 
the program created runs out of federal and state funding.

Porter said examples of programs that could sustain themselves after 
grant money runs out — or save substantial money for a facility — 
include:

• Telemedicine and Telehealth Centers.

• Technology such as A.I. to assist with documentation.

• Education programs for both the public and in the way of training 
for employees.

Some programs will likely need new technology meaning vendors could 
swoop in and try to sell facilities programs, equipment and various 
forms of technology. The administrator said everyone would need to be 
thorough in making sure the programs or technology meet the needs of the 
facility fully and thoroughly.

"We look under the hoods, check references and vet everyone before 
making a purchase of new technology," Porter said. "We have to do 
that in order to make sure what we are purchasing is going to do what we 
need it to do."

Porter also said the Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative, which Wayne 
General is a part of, helps facilities in the state lobby legislators 
and work on collaborations. He said that group will most likely take a 
lead role in helping hospitals develop collaboratives and develop 
programs and applications for grant money from the "Big Beautiful 
Bill."

"I feel like there will be a lot more collaboration," he said. "We 
refer a lot of patients to larger facilities such as UMMC so we already 
have relationships there.

"I feel like there will be collaborations where multiple hospitals 
will work on one project that is funded by the grant money."

According to Williams, the Governor's Office will allocate the funds 
using input from agencies such as the Department of Health, Division of 
Medicaid and Department of Finance Administration.

"You just need to stay in contact with the key people with each 
agency," he said. "That will be a key to developing collaborations 
and qualifying for grant funds."

Porter said he plans on relying on the relationships already built 
through current collaborations to expand those efforts through use of 
any grant money awarded.

"We are going to look at our existing relationships," Porter said. 
"We hope that the state will see that we have a good track record with 
past collaborations."

Williams said he expects the rules and guidelines for grant applications 
to be released sometime in March. He pointed out that several states 
were allowed to amend their applications, which is one of the reasons 
that guidelines have been delayed in being released.

Once those guidelines are released, though, Williams feels the local 
facility is in a good place to qualify for grant money simply based on 
the collaborations it already has in place.

"Wayne General is in a good position to take advantage of these grants 
and funds," he said. "Because of the different types of services — 
wound care and birthing babies comes to mind right away — they have 
proven they have collaborations already in place that are working."

Porter said no matter what, the goal of Wayne General will be to serve 
the community in the best and most efficient way possible.

"We're in dynamic times in healthcare. We're committed to the long 
term in this community, and we just ask those deciding on grant awards 
to look at our track record. We feel that what we've accomplished in 
the past will help us in the future."

If the grant process proves to be unfruitful, though, Porter said Wayne 
General Hospital will continue moving forward and serving the needs of 
residents in the region.

"If we don't get money, then we're going to wake up every morning 
and go to work," he said. "The bill is said and done. There probably 
is some negative in it and there is a lot of good in it.

"We try not to wait for the sky to fall. We go buy an umbrellas and 
then go looking for sunshine. No matter how things fall out, we're 
going to keep working for our community."