The University of Mississippi Medical Center is expanding its footprint with the acquisition of Merit Health Madison, the only hospital in Canton.
The Jackson-based academic medical center announced Monday that its newest location will immediately begin operating as UMMC Madison. Plans to acquire the hospital were finalized on May 1 and builds on a relationship that began in 2019 when UMMC physicians began performing procedures at Merit Health Madison.
“As Mississippi’s only academic medical center, we must continue to be focused on our three-part mission to educate the next generation of health care providers, conduct impactful research, and deliver accessible high-quality health care,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of health affairs at UMMC.
The Canton hospital has 67 licensed beds, and according to the announcement, UMMC’s full ownership will integrate the facility more closely into its academic and health care system. Before the acquisition, doctors from the medical center were staffing the emergency room at Merit Health Madison.
“This is a natural next step in a relationship that has grown over the past several years,” said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs at UMMC.
“We’ve been staffing the emergency department for some time now, but operational challenges, such as having different electronic medical record systems, highlighted the need for a more unified approach,” he continued. “Acquiring the hospital allows us to overcome those hurdles and expand our capacity to care for patients.”
The announcement noted that the acquisition will also help ease capacity concerns at UMMC’s main campus in Jackson, which is about 22 miles from the new Canton location. UMMC Madison will operate as a community hospital, much like UMMC Grenada and UMMC Holmes County, in retaining privileges for non-UMMC community physicians alongside UMMC providers.
Services at UMMC Madison include emergency services, medical-surgical care, ICU, pulmonology, pathology, cardiology, radiology, neurology, nephrology, general surgery, and GI services. OB-GYN services are also in the medical center’s plans for the new hospital.
Training for UMMC students, residents, and fellows will be held at the Canton location.
