By Michaela Gibson Morris
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi continues to face significant health challenges, but a new analysis of health trends suggests the state is sidestepping a serious problem plaguing the rest of the country.
In its annual health care scorecard, the Commonwealth Fund found Mississippi did not see the tremendous rise in deaths of despair – those connected to suicides, alcohol-related and drug overdoses. The increases in those deaths has driven premature death rates up in most of the country.
“It’s really good news for Mississippi,” said David Radley, the senior scientist for the non-partisan foundation that advocates for high performing health systems in the United States and around the world.
In the 2018 scorecard, Mississippi ranked eighth with 35.5 deaths per 100,000 population due to suicide, alcohol and drug use, well below the national rate of 43.2 deaths per 100,000.
“What’s really driving this measure is the increase in deaths associated with drug overdoses,” specifically opioid-related deaths, Radley said.
Looking back between 2005-2016, Mississippi saw its drug-related deaths increase by 44 percent, Radley said. The U.S. rate increased by 113 percent.
Researchers are still trying to untangle possible causes for the increase, Radley said. Economic distress coupled with social isolation and breakdowns of social networks are among theories being explored, but the data can’t reveal that at this point.
The opioid epidemic has seen less impact among African-Americans, and Mississippi has the highest percentage of African-American population.
“That may have a protective effect,” Radley said.
With high rates of opioid prescribing, health advocates have been concerned that Mississippi could be facing a future wave of opioid-related deaths similar to what Appalachian states have seen.
“I hope for Mississippi’s sake it’s not a case of being behind the times,” Radley said.
Encouraging trends
The annual report had other bright spots for Mississippi. The state lead the nation in a measure that tracks improved mobility of home health patients.
“Every state in the nation improved on that measure, but Mississippi had the lowest rate,” of home health patients without improved mobility, Radley said.
Mississippi scored in the top 10 with only 15 percent diabetic adults between 18 and 64 going without an A1c test, which tracks blood sugar levels.
While Mississippi still has serious gaps in mental health care, it improved significantly on the measure of mentally ill adults who received no care. Between 2009-11, 67 percent of adults with any mental illness did not receive any care. Between 2013-15, the percentage improved to 58 percent, within 2 percentage points of the national average.
Mixed signals
Mississippi had among the lowest rates of employer-spending per health insurance enrollee, which is generally seen as a positive measure. However, Mississippi has high rates of individuals with high out-of-pocket costs. The ratio of employee health insurance contributions to median income was also the worst in the nation.
“Even for people who have insurance, we’re worried that they are underinsured,” leading them to bypass needed health care, Radley said.
Trouble remains
Mississippi had the highest rates of mortality for conditions that should respond to health care, with 142.4 deaths per 100,000 population, compared to the national average of 84.3 deaths per 100,000 for 2014-15. Home health patients had high rates of hospital admissions in 2015.
The state continues to struggle with infant mortality, high rates of smoking and obesity. Low income residents saw some improvement in disparities in access to health insurance, but the gaps widened in other measures.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to do better,” Radley said. “It’s challenging to get the right services to high need populations.
Copyright 2018 Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal