Last week, MSDH fired an undisclosed number of employees working in Preventive Health and Emergency Preparedness offices. Addressing the firings publicly for the first time, State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said the reorganization is designed to shift resources toward services that directly improve health outcomes.
“Preventive health is an area that has not been providing direct services to individuals in the state,” Edney said. “I do want to change that. That area should be doing a better job taking care of people and not just taking care of grants.”
The changes come just weeks after a report from the State Auditor’s Office found the department had failed to adequately monitor taxpayer funds flowing through the preventive health office. Edney said the restructuring was primarily driven by federal funding cuts and is expected to save the agency about $20 million.
Alongside financial strains, Edney told the board Mississippi’s infant mortality rate is climbing. Provisional data for 2024 show the state’s overall infant mortality rate rose to 9.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, while the rate for Black infants climbed to 15.2 per 1,000. By contrast, the rate for White infants declined slightly.
“It’s the worst mortality rate we’ve seen in the last decade, with the trend moving in the wrong direction,” Edney said.
The Department of Health declared infant mortality a public health emergency in August, which Edney said allows the agency to act more quickly in deploying solutions. Chief among those efforts is the development of a new Obstetric System of Care. The initiative will designate levels of maternal and neonatal care at hospitals across the state and direct high-risk mothers to facilities that can provide specialized treatment.
The health department also aims to address Mississippi’s “OB deserts,” where women live more than 40 minutes from prenatal or postpartum care. In counties with no providers, county health departments will begin offering basic perinatal services, with mid-level practitioners working in coordination with obstetricians.
Edney said the emergency declaration is allowing the department to move up the timeline for implementing the system and they expect it to be operational in early 2026.
Once in place, Mississippi will become the first state in the nation with four statewide systems of care. The other three are for trauma, heart attack and stroke patients, respectively, and have improved patient outcomes for each group .
“We are leading the country in infant death, but we’re also leading the country in solutions,” Edney said.
Board members also reviewed a legislative agenda that includes seeking new food inspection fees, redirecting some medical cannabis revenue to the Public Health Trust Fund, and restricting public access to documents that give the locations of licensed medical equipment that use radioactive materials.
