South Central Regional Medical Center

South Central Regional Medical Center was founded in 1952 and is currently a 285-bed, public not-for-profit hospital located in Laurel, Mississippi. The hospital primarily serves a four-county area: Jones County, Jasper County, Wayne County and Smith County. The stated focus of the South Central Regional Medical Center Health System is to provide excellent healthcare services to the residents of South Central Mississippi and to improve the quality of life in the region.

South Central has more than 80 physicians on staff representing 28 medical specialties, with over 2,100 employees throughout the health system.

SCRMC has been named a COVID-19 Center of Excellence by the Mississippi State Department of Health; and is a certified Baby-Friendly facility by Baby-Friendly USA.

Mission: Excellent Care and Service. Every Patient. Every Interaction. Every Time.

Vision: By providing excellent care and service, we will become the healthcare provider of choice.

In 2013 and 2014, the facility's average length of stay was about 4.6 days and its Medicaid utilization rate was near 70 percent.

Hospital rating data
The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization, has consistently given SCRMC a "C" Safety Grade from the first quarter of 2020 to the last quarter of 2023.

Government penalization
In 2015, SCRMC settled a case with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for nearly $319,000 regarding claims for emergency ambulance transportation to destinations such as nursing facilities and patient residences that should have been billed at the lower non-emergency rate.

In 2016, SCRMC was one of three hospitals in Mississippi to have their payments cut all three years that Medicaid had issued penalties for patient injuries.

In January 2022, after it self-disclosed conduct to the OIG, South Central Regional Medical Center (SCRMC), Mississippi, agreed to pay $92,793.81 for allegedly violating the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. The OIG alleged that SCRMC employed an individual that it knew or should have known was excluded from participation in Federal health care programs.