Nearly four years after negotiations collapsed over a potential takeover of the long-struggling Greenwood Leflore Hospital by the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s only academic medical center is set to assume operations of the Delta hospital on Aug. 1.
A federal bankruptcy judge on July 16 approved a plan for the donation of the 25-bed public hospital, which is owned by the city of Greenwood and Leflore County, to UMMC. At a Tuesday Greenwood City Council meeting, Gary Marchand, the hospital’s former interim CEO who became a consultant for the hospital’s board, called this the “last hurdle” to completing the transfer.
Gary Marchand talks about the state of the hospital on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today“As I speak here today, the university is on our campus,” Marchand said. “They’re making sure the IT — their clinical information systems — are up and running, the connectivity works, etc. We’re ready to switch over.”
The Greenwood hospital has struggled financially for years, with its problems worsening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials have repeatedly warned it was near to closure. Its plight intensified in 2025 due to a dispute with the Mississippi Division of Medicaid over the repayment of debts the hospital owed.
The hospital will be renamed UMMC Greenwood and will add to the university medical center’s existing services in the area, which include obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine and pediatrics clinics and an AirCare helicopter base.
UMMC operates seven hospitals and 35 clinics. In addition to its main campus facilities in Jackson, UMMC has hospitals in Grenada, Holmes and Madison counties.
“We look forward to serving the Greenwood community and surrounding areas as part of our commitment to providing the highest quality health care to the citizens of Mississippi,” Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs, said in a statement to Mississippi Today.
UMMC declined to answer Mississippi Today’s questions about whether the takeover would result in service changes or layoffs. On Tuesday, Marchand said medical center staff are meeting with existing employees about available positions in Greenwood and its other hospital locations.
The hospital has roughly 400 employees, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court. About 40 of these employees will be retained to complete the hospital’s business matters after Aug. 1.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital’s services, including the emergency room, operating room, skilled nursing care and cancer care, will continue uninterrupted when UMMC takes over, Marchand said. He said the Greenwood hospital expects to take approximately 18 months — and likely less — to wind down its corporate affairs before the entity is dissolved.
UMMC will take on the hospital’s Medicaid liabilities and deferred maintenance responsibilities in the transaction, Marchand said Tuesday. A key sticking point in the 2022 talks between UMMC and the Greenwood hospital was the outstanding debts the hospital owed to Medicare and the funds necessary for deferred maintenance on hospital facilities, because UMMC did not want to be responsible for the costs after a transition.
“Greenwood Leflore Hospital will not have a dispute with Medicaid come August 1,” Marchand said.
Several of the hospital’s properties are not included in the transfer, including its Itta Bena Clinic, which is scheduled to close at the end of July. Greenwood Leflore Hospital has operated the primary care clinic since 1997, serving the nearby town of Itta Bena’s more than 1,500 residents.
Delta Health Center, a Mound Bayou-based federally qualified health center with 17 locations, is interested in reopening the clinic and rehiring its employees, Deputy CEO Neuaviska Braugher told city council members Tuesday.
Greenwood City Council President Ronnie Stevenson said the city could not consider the possibility until after the transfer to UMMC is complete, noting that such an arrangement would need approval from the bankruptcy court judge.
“I want to see the Itta Bena Clinic remain open,” he said. “Unfortunately, it will close July 31.”
‘A long road’
Greenwood Leflore Hospital faced a litany of financial challenges over the past several years. Before the pandemic began, the hospital was losing $7 million to $9 million a year.
The pandemic only worsened the hospital’s precarious financial condition. To keep its doors open, the hospital shut down departments and clinics, went up for lease multiple times, drew down millions of dollars in credit, and pursued a more lucrative hospital designation. In 2023, the hospital suspended the use of 173 beds to control costs, according to an audit.
The hospital’s financial challenges worsened in 2025. In June, the Division of Medicaid notified the hospital it would recoup $5.5 million in state-directed payments, or supplemental funds intended to offset low Medicaid reimbursement rates. The overpayments stemmed from the division’s calculations based on old data that did not reflect lower patient volumes after the hospital closed its labor and delivery and intensive care units in 2022.
The hospital and state agency reached an agreement to give both sides more time to negotiate a plan for the debt repayment in December as Marchand warned that the hospital was one day away from making its last payroll.
But even with additional time, it was clear the hospital was in a dire financial situation, Marchand said. Hospital leaders approached three larger hospital systems about taking over operations of Greenwood Leflore. UMMC was the only interested party.
In February, Greenwood Leflore Hospital signed a letter of intent to discuss the possibility of UMMC taking over its services, Mississippi Today reported.
But the hospital’s conflict with Medicaid was not over. Recoupments were scheduled to resume in March, but hospital officials said they would likely force the facility to close. In response, a Hinds County chancery judge ordered Medicaid to temporarily stop collecting the money.
In April, the hospital laid off 86 staff members and closed clinics. Days later, it filed for bankruptcy, a move officials said would give it time to negotiate the transaction with UMMC.
In June, the Hinds County chancery judge ordered the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to make a scheduled payment of roughly $2.4 million to Greenwood Leflore Hospital after the agency said it planned to withhold the funds. The Delta hospital argued that missing a payment would force it to close imminently and jeopardize its proposed agreement with UMMC.
Inside the wood-paneled Greenwood City Council chambers Tuesday, Marchand was greeted with handshakes and kudos from attendees. One man in a brimmed hat reached out to shake his hand and offer congratulations.
“It’s been a long road,” Marchand replied.
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