Mississippi Economic Council hosted the 2018 Governor's Health Care Summit in August at the Jackson Convention Complex. The Summit celebrated five years of building a stronger health care industry in support of four priority areas: workforce development, quality of life, business sustainability, and creation of economic wealth.

The sold-out event featured guest speakers who provided insights and examples of the state's progress that began in 2012 with the release of Blueprint Mississippi: Health Care as an Economic Driver. Blueprint MS contained vital recommendations for moving the state forward and those recommendations have resulted in policy changes like the formation of Health Care Zones for communities. 

In addition, research modeling data on Tradition, MS, was presented by Arduin, Laffer, & Moore. The Trent Lott Center assisted in the research study by measuring the economic impact and contribution of current and proposed investments in Tradition, Mississippi's Learning Medical City. The study also highlighted the need for more patient care in rural areas and touted Mississippi is one of seven states achieve to achieve an "A-rating" in telehealth care.

The 2018 Governor's Health Care Summit featured Darrin Buelow, Deloitte Site Selection Consultant . Buelow described the growing national concern of communities being able to compete for site location selection of company startups where the rates of opioid addiction are on the rise. This new phenomenon in health has become an influencer for decisions in whether or not communities can meet company's workforce capacity needs. Buelow stated that five years ago, site selection consultants did not ask local economic developers, "How is the opioid crisis affecting your region, and what is being done to address it?" However, it is now one of the factors related to workforce availability. Buelow's advice for helping Mississippi be competitive is to make strides in population health prevention and increase achievement outcomes of Mississippi schools