Committee hears hospitals say they lack direct CPS after-hours contact

Members raised a persistent operational problem: hospitals lack a direct, private CPS after-hours number for urgent cases. Speaker 4 said Memorial had spent years trying to secure a private line and that the absence of a straightforward contact slows emergency responses for newborns and other high-need children. "When you have emergency responders that can't even call the system that is supposed to be protecting them," Speaker 4 said, "that was to be solved."

Representatives from Memorial described internal steps taken since mid-2024 to improve communication with CPS, including sharing CPS reports concurrently, implementing daily sit-downs between nurses and social workers, and weekly Teams meetings focused on NICU discharge planning. Hospital staff suggested those practices could be shared with other regional hospitals like Singing River to improve coordination.