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 Hospital Association’s political action committee made its largest-ever donation to then-gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley, a strong supporter of Medicaid expansion.
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.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized UMMC’s membership in a hospital association. That reference has been removed.
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