The performance of Mississippi’s healthcare system is consistently ranked as one of the lowest in the nation. In 2013, the Center for Mississippi Health Policy (Center) published the report, “Healthcare System Performance: What Mississippi Indicators Reveal,” which included an analysis of national health system performance indicators and discussed the weaknesses of the state’s healthcare system. At the time, the state’s use of hospital care for chronic and preventable conditions was one of the highest in the nation, while the utilization of primary and preventive care was one of the lowest. Low rates of utilization such as this result in very poor health outcomes and financial burdens on the state’s healthcare resources. The report also discussed strategic actions and opportunities for addressing these weaknesses, and categorized those strategies into four dimensions of healthcare performance:

• Workforce
• Service Delivery Models
• Payment Systems
• Performance Measurement

The report discussed initiatives from each of the four performance dimensions Mississippi and private organizations had taken to address the state’s poorly performing healthcare system. For example, the Mississippi Office of Physician Workforce was
developed in 2012 to address the state’s healthcare workforce by creating enhanced family medicine residency programs. In the same year, the Mississippi Division of Medicaid reformed their payment systems by implementing the Mississippi Coordinated Access Network (MSCAN) program to address quality of care and rising costs through the coordination of care for Mississippi Medicaid beneficiaries.

Mississippi was making significant efforts to address healthcare performance issues but, at the time of our 2013 report, was severely lacking in their coordination of strategies and efforts. The report explained several action points related to four dimensions of healthcare system performance that the National Academy for State
Health Policy recommended states collaborate and coordinate their efforts to improve health outcomes and healthcare system performance. Some of the action points that were most relevant to the improvement of Mississippi’s healthcare system included:

• Increase providers trained in primary and preventive care
• Revise payment models to incentivize improvements in health outcomes and the expansion of patient care coordination
• Adopt use of electronic health records and enhancement of data systems
• Report health quality measures to Medicare to improve the development of current performance measurements

Copies of the report can be downloaded HERE. Copies of the issue brief can be downloaded HERE. Printed copies of the issue brief are available by contacting the Center for Mississippi Health Policy at 601-709-2133 or by e-mail at info@mshealthpolicy.com.