Progressive Health of Marks hosts lawmakers to discuss rural care future

Quitman County still has too few places to get timely care close to home, and Progressive Health of Marks used a visit from two members of Congress to press that point. The Critical Access Hospital reopened in 2021 after five years shut, but residents in Marks, Lambert, Crowder and Falcon still depend on a small set of services that include 24/7 emergency care, radiology, respiratory therapy, lab work, an inpatient senior care unit and an Intensive Outpatient Program meant to fill a mental health gap.

U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson and U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark were at the hospital on June 19 for a focused discussion on what rural health care looks like in Quitman County now and what it will need to survive. They toured the facility, met with staff, providers and administrators, and joined a roundtable with local officials and health care advocates. For Progressive Health of Marks, the visit was less about ceremony than about making clear that the hospital is a civic institution tied to emergency treatment, referrals, jobs and day-to-day access for a county that has few remaining health care options.

The pressure behind that pitch is easy to see in the numbers. Quitman County’s population fell from 8,223 in the 2010 Census to 6,176 in 2020, and Census estimates put it at 5,364 in 2025. The county’s median household income was $32,412 in 2024, 29.6% of residents lived in poverty and 12.5% of people under 65 lacked health insurance, leaving a narrow financial base to support a hospital that serves a large rural area.

The stakes are sharpened by memory. Quitman County’s previous hospital closed on Oct. 31, 2016, when it was the county’s largest employer with 99 workers. At the time, local accounts said residents faced at least a 30-minute drive to reach neighboring acute care. That is the gap Progressive Health of Marks was built to close, and it is why staffing, reimbursement and coverage rules in Washington matter so much in Marks.

The discussion also touched the proposed One Big Beautiful Bill and the possibility of Medicaid cuts, issues that could quickly affect rural hospitals that rely on stable payment streams. Thompson’s office has said those cuts would affect 193,418 people in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District, including about 128,030 children and more than 33,000 seniors. The Mississippi Hospital Association has called rural hospitals anchor businesses and said Mississippi’s hospital access payment support remains critical to keeping them open, underscoring what Quitman County residents will be watching for next.