Updated: The Commonwealth corrected the amount of the MHAP June payment and to clarify details of the hospital's transfer to UMMC. Also, a link to the board meeting's live stream was added. IHL also approved
Greenwood Leflore Hospital is asking a federal court to either order the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to release $2.45 million this month to the insolvent hospital or let a state court consider ordering it so that the hospital can stay open long enough to complete the transfer of its ownership to another operator.
The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees unanimously approved a “contribution and asset transfer agreement” of GLH to the University of Mississippi Medical Center on Thursday morning. If the June payment from the Mississippi Hospital Access Program is withheld, GLH claims in a motion, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Jackson, it could kill a proposed agreement for UMMC to take over the Greenwood hospital on Aug. 1.
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GLH was notified June 9 that the state Medicaid Division “did not intend” to remit an MHAP payment to the hospital that month. Craig Geno, the attorney representing the Division of Medicaid, said in an email to Doug Noble, an attorney representing the hospital, that withholding the June MHAP payment “was their initial position. I get the impression that may get looked at again since the (bankruptcy) plan has been filed.”
On Monday, Noble asked Geno for confirmation of the nonpayment. “The uncertainty created by DOM’s statement of intention not to make the payment is giving us no choice but to file something (in court) before it’s too late.”
The motion states that the hospital has not received a response.
“Without this payment, GLH will be forced to cease operations and close by approximately June 30, 2026,” the hospital said in the motion.
Hospital officials also confirmed in the motion that GLH has agreed to the terms of a takeover by UMMC. The proposed “contribution and asset transfer agreement” has been submitted to the federal bankruptcy court overseeing the hospital’s Chapter 9 reorganization plan and was filed as documentation supporting the motion against the Mississippi Division of Medicaid.
One of the terms of the 96-page agreement is that the Greenwood hospital “shall not, prior to the closing date cease operations, close GLH or effect a close of business.” Without the MHAP payment, the hospital will be forced to shutter prior to the Aug. 1 closing date, “thus jeopardizing the closing of the UMMC transaction and risking the cessation of all hospital services in the central Mississippi Delta,” the motion states.
GLH has been battling for a year with the Division of Medicaid over MHAP overpayments to the hospital and how those should be repaid to the state.
In June 2025, the Division of Medicaid ruled that the hospital had been overpaid more than $5.5 million in 2024 and $1.78 million in 2025 from MHAP because the supplement disbursements had been calculated based on patient volumes prior to the hospital’s series of cost-cutting reductions in services.
The state agency clawed back more than $3 million and was planning to take back $900,000 per fiscal quarter until the overpayment was repaid. However, the hospital appealed to Hinds County Chancery Court saying the agency violated its own policy by not allowing the hospital a hearing on the recoupments. The court reduced the December 2025 recoupment to $447,000 and then issued a ruling in March pausing all additional clawbacks.
In April, the hospital filed for bankruptcy protection, listing the repayments still due to the Division of Medicaid among its largest unsecured claims.
A month later, the Division of Medicaid petitioned for the dispute with GLH to be moved from state court to federal court. The hospital is asking the federal court to either remand the case back to Hinds County Chancery Court or enter an emergency order prohibiting Medicaid from withholding or reducing the MHAP payment.
In its motion, the hospital claims that the Division of Medicaid is violating not only the state court’s order but also the agency’s own rules and regulations by threatening to withhold the June disbursement.
Meanwhile, IHL’s Board of Trustees will consider a request from UMMC to receive ownership of Greenwood Leflore Hospital, which is situated on approximately 14.5 acres of land on River Road.
“UMMC is interested in acquiring the property to increase training opportunities for students, residents and fellows in facilities with healthcare settings that more closely match those of the communities in which many will eventually practice and be employed, outside the academic medical center setting. UMMC will utilize the property to operate hospital, clinical and medical services as UMMC deems appropriate,” the board packet stated.
The proposed transfer of GLH property also includes the wellness/outpatient rehabilitation center in the 1800 block of Strong Avenue, the plant shop on Chambers Street and the flex building in the 1400 block of Strong Avenue.
All of the property would be donated at no cost to UMMC, the state’s largest hospital system.
The Greenwood hospital is jointly owned by the City of Greenwood and Leflore County. The transfer agreement would have to be approved by the Greenwood City Council and the county Board of Supervisors in addition to the IHL board.
The IHL board’s staff is recommending approval of the agreement.
