Series 2214: Miss. Health Care Commission - Planning & Resource. 1980-1988.
Health, Dept. of (RG 51)

Series 2214: Miss. Health Care Commission - Planning & Resource. 1980-1988.
Health, Dept. of (RG 51)

      Correspondence and administrative files of the Health Planning and Resource Development Division of the Miss. Health Care Commission, and later, of the Department of Health. This division is responsible for conducting statewide health facilities planning and Certificate of Need activities. A Certificate of Need must be approved in order for existing health care facilities in the state to expand or for new facilities to be built. Health care facilities covered by this stipulation include hospitals, birthing centers, and nursing and other long-term care facilities; expansions of these facilities can include anything from increasing the number of beds to adding new diagnostic units. The purpose of the Certificate of Need system and statewide health planning is to ensure that the state’s health facilities are adequate for its projected health care needs, and that the state-financed construction or expansion of health facilities does not outpace those projected needs. Included in these records are correspondence, statistics, budgets for FY 1986 and 1987, the division chief’s 1986 appointment book and his 1987 and 1990 desk calendars, drafts of the 1987 state health plan, drafts of Certificate of Need (CON) guidelines and related working files, CON files (weekly reports, and subscription files), Commission meeting files with discussions of projects and applications, ad hoc committee files, and internal communications regarding the final disposition of projects and applications.

      Health care planning and Certificate of Need administration needs were initially handled by the Mississippi Health Care Commission’s Health Planning and Resource Development Division. The Commission was also responsible for licensing health care facilities in accordance with state law, certifying health facilities to provide services to Medicare and Medicaid patients, and contributing to the preparation of the State Health Plan. The Commission was established in 1976 as the Mississippi Health Planning and Development Agency as part of the Governor’s Office of Federal/State Programs. In 1979, House Bill 1299 established the Mississippi Health Care Commission by combining the Health Planning and Development Agency with the licensing division of the State Department of Health and the Mississippi Commission on Hospital Care. In 1986, the Health Care Commission was abolished by statute and folded into the State Department of Health, where its health planning and Certificate of Need functions were administered by a new division, also named the Division of Health Planning and Resource Development.