Boone Health and Audrain County officials signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) Friday, intending to co-develop a master health plan, which includes a new hospital, for the county.
The NDA will allow a complete review of the county’s health care needs.
“The signing of the NDA allows us to fully share information and do strategic planning together to come up with a community health needs assessment and looking at what we need from a facility need standpoint,” Boone Health CEO Brady DuBois said.
DuBois told KOMU 8 that Boone Health has been in talks with Audrain County officials for several weeks and that they are focused on providing health care to the county’s citizens.
Now that conversations can be more thorough, Dubois said Boone Health can identify past trends to determine how to build a facility that meets the needs of the community.
“What do we need from a colonoscopy standpoint, mammogram standpoint, from a routine health screening standpoint? What will those numbers look like to design a facility that meets today’s needs and future needs of the county?” DuBois said.
As part of long-term plans, a critical access hospital will likely be established.
“As a known regional health care system with a proven track record for quality outcomes, Boone Health is more than qualified to explore the establishment of a critical access hospital in Mexico,” Audrain County Health Department Administrator/CEO Craig Brace said.
Audrain County has been without a hospital since Noble Health shut down its community hospitals in Audrain and Callaway counties in March 2022.
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Ziva Medical currently owns the hospitals, and one of its owners said earlier this year it plans to reopen the facilities.
DuBois said the there are no intentions to work out of Ziva’s hospital. He sad Boone Health is focused on designing its own critical access hospital, which will take a while to establish.
“From getting design done to funding source to certificate of need and construction, the process will take three years,” DuBois said. “Construction alone will take at least 18 to 20 months at a minimum, so we’re trying to develop things in the near-term future to work toward a definitive solution.”
This also means that emergency care will have to wait.
“In the state of Missouri, you’re not allowed to have a free standing emergency room, you have to have a hospital, so once the hospital opens, we’ll have 24/7 care available,” DuBois said.
Dr. Charles Tillman, a cardiologist for Missouri Heart and a resident of Mexico, Missouri, said the community has been very eager for additional health care in the county.
“Years ago, when we did have a hospital, we provided care for upwards of 40,000 people, and now we don’t have a hospital at this point, things are very difficult at best,” Tillman said. “Everyday at the office, people are asking me what we are going to do for a hospital.”
DuBois said the expansion into Audrain County would add more than 150 jobs. He said Boone Health is ready to take on this project financially and that the health care company had a great first quarter of 2024.
Boone Health currently operates two primary care centers in Mexico and provides health care in 26 mid-Missouri counties.