PH 528 Assignment 1

January 21, 2025

The Honorable Karl Gibbs

Mississippi House of Representatives

State Capitol 400 High St.

Jackson, MS 39201

Dear Representative Gibbs:

My name is Sherita Dobbins. I am a licensed practical nurse (LPN) working in a local health department in Monroe County, MS. I am writing to express my position on House Bill Number 1262, authored by Representative Blackmon Jr., which provides for the creation of a grant program for rural hospitals to facilitate the development and implementation and/or enhancement of telemedicine use or similar technologies within emergency rooms and for other related purposes. I support the bill and would like to invite you to reconsider your stance: PH 528 Assignment 1.

My support for the bill is informed by its overall impact on rural communities in Mississippi. The bill is expected to reinforce the use of telehealth and telemedicine services to residents living in remote areas of the state. Rural Mississippi continues to suffer from traditional problems such as isolation, poor transportation services, poverty, and lack of employment. As a result, residents of these areas are at high risk of missing out on basic health care services and face other problems related to health disparities.

The use of telehealth and telemedicine technologies has been associated with significant benefits to caregivers and patients. They bridge gaps in accessing health care accustomed to proximity by establishing a connection between providers and patients. Through telemedicine tools such as video teleconferencing devices, residents of Mississippi living in rural and remote areas can connect with their caregivers. This will facilitate the delivery of basic care services, including preventive services, such as patient education, to the residents.

Telemedicine tools also provide a cost-effective alternative to physical clinical visitations. This will be considerably beneficial to residents of rural Mississippi, who are already plagued by high poverty rates (Butzner & Cuffee, 2021). In the pursuit of expanded access to healthcare among all Mississippi residents, the reintroduction of the bill is warranted.

Telehealth is also beneficial to healthcare providers. Besides, it helps reduce physical patient visitations at the emergency department. This is likely to translate to improved continuity of care, as caregivers can monitor their patients remotely and even coordinate the delivery of vital services. Likewise, reduced physical visitations result in lower wait times and subsequent elevated efficiency of care services.

There are several consequences of not supporting the bill. These include the persistence of poor access to healthcare accustomed to proximity and geographical isolation and underutilization of valuable health technologies due to inaccessibility. In the absence of state funding, the level of adoption of meaningful technologies among hospitals with lower financial strengths reduces. This is the case for many hospitals serving rural residents of the states (Coombs et al., 2022).

In such hospitals, implementing meaningful but costly interventions such as telehealth services may be troublesome. Likewise, there is a general reluctance among low-tier and underfunded hospitals to enter into resource-intensive ventures in healthcare (Coombs et al., 2022). It is thus less expected that many hospitals serving the rural populations invest in such technologies. This further underlines the need for state funding.

In the absence of interventions targeted at expanding access to healthcare, health disparities thrive. Poor access to healthcare, which has been a reality in rural Mississippi and affects approximately 21% of the residents, is likely to remain when the state fails to pass progressive bills such as the one pushing for funding programs. I therefore request you to consider your stance and reintroduce the bill to the House.

I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your time, attention, and consideration of my viewpoint on this matter.

Sincerely,

Sherita Dobbins

Address

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References

Butzner, M., & Cuffee, Y. (2021). Telehealth interventions and outcomes across rural communities in the United States: Narrative review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(8). https://doi.org/10.2196/29575

Coombs, N. C., Campbell, D. G., & Caringi, J. (2022). A qualitative study of rural healthcare providers’ views of social, cultural, and programmatic barriers to healthcare access. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07829-2

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Assignment #1

PH 528

Introduction: The Mississippi State Legislature was in session in 2022, and the legislative session moved quite quickly. January 16^th was the deadline to file general legislation for 2023, and more than 1,900 bills were introduced. These bills were then assigned to committees and are now at various stages- some are waiting to be debated and voted on in the chamber they were introduced, and others have been already been passed in one chamber and sent to the other chamber for a vote.

Directions:

1. Review the bills that were assigned to either the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee or the House Public Health and Human Services Committee.
2. Select a bill that interests you and review the full text of the bill as well as the history of actions (where it is in the legislative process).
3. Write a letter to your state (not federal) representative or senator (whoever is going to vote on the bill next) either in support of or in opposition to the bill. You can find your legislators here. You may use Oxford, MS as your location if you are not from Mississippi.
   

   PH 528 Assignment 1

Letter Format:

• Minimum of one page, maximum of two pages
• Single-spaced, one-inch margins
• 12 pt. Times New Roman font
• Business letter format

Content Recommendations:

• Introduce yourself, the bill you are referencing, and the stance you support
• Clearly explain why they should support your view
  • Potential benefits if the policymaker supports your view
  • Potential consequences if the policymaker does not support your view
• Weave together facts and personal narratives that support what you are asking
• Include references if appropriate
• Ask for a reply and thank them for their time and attention
• Be polite, professional, and positive
• Sample letters here (your letter should be a bit longer and more detailed)

Due Date: Upload your letter to Blackboard as a .doc or .docx file by 11:59 PM on Sunday 1/26.