The state of Mississippi is named after the Mississippi River. Mississippi covers 46,907 square miles, with a 2008 estimated population of 2,938,618 people – with 1,643,353 people living in rural Mississippi (USDA-ERS). Jackson is the state capital. The state’s largest cities are Jackson, Gulfport, and Biloxi. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 60.7% of the state’s population is white, 37.2% is Black/African-American, and 2.1% is of Hispanic/Latino origin (2007).
There are 99 hospitals in Mississippi, 72 of which are located in rural areas (North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, Dec. 2008). The state has 27 hospitals currently identified by the Flex Monitoring Team as Critical Access Hospitals (April, 2009). There are 154 Rural Health Clinics in Mississippi (CMS, 2009), and 21 Federally Qualified Health Centers provide services at 178 sites in the state (Kaiser, 2008). 19.8% of Mississippi residents lack any health insurance (Kaiser, 2006-2007).
According to the USDA Economic Research Service, the average per-capita income for all Mississippi residents in 2007 was $28,541 although rural per-capita income lagged at $25,267. Estimates from 2008 indicate a poverty rate of 24.0% exists in rural Mississippi, compared to 16.7% in urban areas of the state. Data from 2000 finds that 31.7% of the rural population has not completed high school, while 21.0% of the urban population lacks a high school diploma. The unemployment rate in rural Mississippi is 7.9%, while in urban Mississippi, it is 5.7% (USDA-ERS, 2008).
For a national comparison, please see an overview of the United States.
Data Sources:
U.S. Census Bureau: State & County QuickFacts
USDA Economic Research Service: State Fact Sheets
North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Facts
Flex Monitoring Team: Critical Access Hospital List
Organizations
Community Resource Group (CRG)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Works in rural areas to expand the opportunities for families to build assets, improve their lives, and strengthen their communities.
HUD Community Development Block Grants: Mississippi
Federal government
Contact information for the State CDBG program. Provides funding for community development projects.
Mississippi Department of Health
State government
Works to improve the health of Mississippi residents.
Mississippi Department of Health: Office of Health Disparity Elimination
State government
Performs research and education on unequal access to quality health care and strives to eliminate such disparities across the state.
Mississippi Department of Human Services
State government
Mission is to provide services for people in need by optimizing all available resources to sustain the family unit and to encourage traditional family values thereby promoting self-sufficiency and personal responsibility for all Mississippians.
Mississippi Division of Child Support Enforcement
State government
To provide child support services to ensure that children receive financial and emotional support from both parents and empower families to become self-sufficient.
Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA)
State/regional organization
A statewide trade organization dedicated to effectively serving the health care needs of Mississippi, serving those who serve the state's hospitals and their employees.
Mississippi Office of Rural Health
State government
Serves to understand and improve rural health conditions within Mississippi through collecting and evaluating data, providing technical assistance, and updating a rural health care information clearinghouse. A division of the Mississippi State Department of Health.
Mississippi Primary Health Care Association (MPHCA)
State/regional organization
Represents the interests of its members in national, regional and statewide efforts to improve access to health care for the medically underserved.
Mississippi Rural Health Association
State/regional organization
Works to improve the health of rural Mississippians through forums, networking, and communication.
National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern/Atlantic Region (NN/LM-SE/A)
State/regional organization
Works to improve access to health information for health care providers, librarians and the public in Alabama, the District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia and West Virginia.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Mississippi
Federal government
Works to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing. The HUD state office provides information about HUD housing programs and local contacts for the state.
USDA Rural Development Mississippi State Office
Federal government
Committed to helping improve the economy and quality of life in all of rural America. The Rural Development State Office provides information about Rural Development programs and applications for financial assistance.
Volunteers of America Southeast (VOASE)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Provides programs and opportunities for individual and community involvement, including a faith-based and community resource center. Works to serve people along the Alabama-Mississippi-Georgia Gulf Coast who are hungry, homeless, and otherwise in need of assistance. Offers programs for children, chronic mental illness, hard of hearing, community enhancement, elderly, housing, and substance abuse.
Tools
ERS State Fact Sheet: Mississippi
Web site
Lists statistics on population, educational attainment, employment, income, farm characteristics, and farm financial indicators for the state.
Mississippi QuickFacts
Web site
Basic demographic and economic statistics for the state, with links to county-level data.
Mississippi AgrAbility Project
Web site
The Mississippi AgrAbility Project partners are the Mississippi State University Extension Service, the T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability, Methodist Rehabilitation Center, the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and the Alcorn State University Extension Program.
Mississippi Health Centers Data
Web site
Provides access to information on Federally Qualified Health Centers for the state. Includes a map of FQHC locations, as well as information on the populations served by health centers, services provided, staff, patient visits, costs of care, and use of electronic health information.
Mississippi Health Workforce: Highlights from the Health Workforce Profile
Web site
Highlights compile 2000 data on levels of employment, projected growth and key environmental factors that affect demand for health care. Details for medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, mental health and aides.
Mississippi KIDS COUNT Data Center (KCDC)
Web site
Provides data on child well-being for the state.
Mississippi State Health Facts
Database
The latest state-level data on demographics, health, and health policy, including health coverage, access, financing, and state legislation. Individual state profiles and 50-state comparisons.
National Healthcare Quality Report State Snapshot: Mississippi
Web site
Health care quality report for the state, based on the National Healthcare Quality Report.
State Profiles- Mississippi: Health Information Technology (HIT)
Web site
Profiles the state’s health information technology (HIT) issues. Contains sections on demographics, HIT legislation, telemedicine, Health Information Exchanges (HIE) & Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO), grant funded HIT projects, and HIT survey information.
See also: Resources for All States: Tools Documents, Reports and Other Publications
Community Based Framework for Understanding Problems and Exploring Alternatives: Connecting Underemployment, Poverty and Access to Health Care in the Mississippi Delta
Author(s): John J. Green, Albert B. Nylander
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Discusses community-based research as a framework for better understanding views of poverty and exploring alternative intervention programs that are innovative and diverse. Includes examples of regional assets, barriers, social and health issues identified in the Mississippi Delta region using this research approach.
Date: 02 / 2006
Cost of Inaction to Rural Communities: The Urgent Need for Health Care Reform Leake County, Mississippi
Author(s): Kelly Shaw-Sutherland, Anh Nguyen, Keith Mueller
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Examines Leake County, a rural Mississippi county, which embodies many of the problems of the U.S. health care crisis.
Date: 08 / 2009
Cost of Inaction to Rural Communities: The Urgent Need for Health Care Reform Walthall County, Mississippi
Author(s): Anh Nguyen, Kelly Shaw-Sutherland, Keith Mueller
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Focuses on Walthall County, a small county located in southwestern Mississippi, which is dealing with the health care crisis.
Date: 08 / 2009
Demographic and Economic Profile: Mississippi
Author(s): Kathleen K. Miller
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute
Discusses demographic and economic data including population, race, education, age, poverty, income, and more. Includes maps and graphics.
Date: 10 / 2008
Indicators of Access to Early Childhood Services in the Mississippi Delta
Author(s): Elizabeth F. Shores, Erin Barbaro, Michael C. Barbaro, Michelle Flenner, Lynn Bell
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives
Provides maps and data about access to child care in the Delta Counties of Mississippi.
Date: 05 / 2007
Look at the Mid South Delta Region: A Glimpse of Its Assets, Socioeconomic Complexion, and Emerging Opportunities
Author(s): Bo Beaulieu, Marcus Littles
Sponsoring organization: Southern Rural Development Center
Offers a brief overview of the potential that exists to improve the social and economic conditions in the Mid South Delta Region.
Date: 03 / 2009
Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (FLEX) State Rural Health Plan
Sponsoring organization: Mississippi Office of Rural Health
Details the plan being submitted to the Mississippi Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) for the state's Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. The plan contains information related to Mississippi’s demographic, economic, health status, and health facilities and systems characteristics. In addition, the plan includes an overview of the state’s health workforce, emergency medical services, critical access hospitals, and the Flex Program Strategic Planning Process and FLEX Program Objectives.
Date: 12 / 2008
Small Business Profile: Mississippi
Sponsoring organization: Small Business Administration
Profile of the state's economy, covering the number of firms, industry composition, small business income, banking, women and minority business ownership, and employment.
Date: 2008
State Profiles - Mississippi: Reforming the Health Care System
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
Detailed profile of the state's health care system. Covers demographics, expenditures and financing, health status, utilization and quality of services, health care providers, Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance coverage, and key trends.
Date: 12 / 2005
See also: Resources for All States: Documents Journals
Mississippi - Crossroads
Quarterly newsletter, combining the news of both the Mississippi Rural Health Association Mississippi State Office of Rural Health.
Success Stories
Community-Based Care for Persons Living with Type 2 Diabetes
The Community-based Care for Persons Living with Type 2
Diabetes program was designed to prevent complications
commonly associated with type 2 diabetes.
TelEmergency
In response to a lack of emergency care and physicians in many rural areas of Mississippi, the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) has developed and directs the operation of a rural health telemedicine initiative called TelEmergency. Rural hospitals have contracted with UMC to allow the Emergency Medicine specialist backup for the nurse practitioners who completed the program and were hired by the local facility. When these nurse practitioners staff the rural Emergency Department, they communicate with Emergency Medicine physicians at UMC via T-1 lines and a sophisticated telemedicine setup.
Humphreys County Memorial Hospital Rural Health Outreach Program
The project's main goals were to increase the numbers of K - 12 students who are covered by health insurance, who use the health care services provided, and who follow up on recommended health care; to increase transportation to primary and specialty health providers; and to decrease the number of families of K - 12 students who are noncompliant in regard to their children's health needs.
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