Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs is Mississippi’s first rural emergency hospital – the first in a trend some say indicates the further decline of healthcare access in one of the country's poorest and sickest states. Hospitals were able to apply for the new federal designation mere weeks ago, when the Mississippi Department of Health rolled out its rules for “rural emergency hospitals.” The federal government finalized the program in November. The hospital has already begun getting rid of all its inpatient beds and discharging current patients, as reported by the South Reporter, Marshall County's community newspaper
