Rep. Hines warns UMMC reductions will hurt Jackson Medical Mall as House tables reconsideration of Senate Bill 30.1

Representative Hines told the Mississippi House that language tied to Senate Bill 30.1 could enable the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) to reduce services at the Jackson Medical Mall and urged further negotiation to keep services in Midtown Jackson, and the House voted to table a motion to reconsider the calendar item.

Hines said the Jackson Medical Mall — which she described as converted from the old Jackson Mall by physician and civil-rights-era health advocate Dr. Aaron Shirley and later named the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center — is a unique community resource combining health care, retail and education. "UMMC has had a 450,000 square foot investment at the Jackson Mall. And now just recently, we've heard from UMMC that they are planning to reduce their footprint to a 25,000 square feet," she said, adding later that moving specific services would cut the center's footprint "again from 450,000 to 125,000 square feet."

Why it matters: Hines said the mall provides health access to an underserved Midtown neighborhood in Jackson and warned that moving cancer, obstetrics-gynecology and other services outside the city would create transportation barriers and worsen already high infant and maternal mortality rates in parts of Hinds County. "If you remove those services, particularly if you move them outside of city of Jackson, now you're dealing with transportation issues," Hines said. She also noted the Legislature and UMMC should coordinate with the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation to keep services locally.

During the five-minute debate period tied to the motion to reconsider calendar item number 2 (Senate Bill 30.1), the gentleman from Montgomery, Representative Oliver, moved to table the motion to reconsider. The question on tabling was put by voice vote and the presiding officer declared the ayes had it; a roll call was demanded but the demand was insufficient to require one, and the motion was recorded as carried by voice. Hines had urged members to vote no on the motion to table so the House could later reconsider the bill's language.

Representative Hans (the gentleman from Washington) asked Hines to confirm that she sought reconsideration "to remove the language that will have UMC moving from the medical mall," and Hines replied that she wanted at minimum more negotiation with UMMC to keep services in the Jackson Medical Mall and to avoid shifting care outside the city into Madison and Rankin counties. Hines also said a cancer task force recently established should consider the importance of retaining services in communities with high cancer incidence.

Procedure and context: Members followed the routine calendar motion process: motions to table were offered on multiple calendar items; Hines used her five-minute allowance to place the issue on colleagues' radar. Representative Clark (gentleman from Holmes) raised a parliamentary inquiry to clarify that voting no on the motion to table would be necessary to preserve the ability to reconsider the bill later.

Details and uncertainties: Hines referenced specific program moves she said were at risk — naming the Cancer Institute and OBGYN among services cited — but did not list every affected program. She gave two different figures for UMMC's proposed reduced footprint in her remarks (25,000 square feet in one passage and 125,000 square feet in another). The appropriations request Hines cited for UMMC was described in her remarks as "almost a billion dollars." The transcript does not include a UMMC representative on the floor or a formal written statement from UMMC in the record.

Ending: With the motion to table carried, the House did not immediately reconsider the language Hines described. Hines and other members indicated the matter remains active for follow-up, including potential negotiation between UMMC, the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation and members of the Jackson delegation.