Boone Hospital seeks to operate independently in 2021
The Boone Hospital Center trustees announced Monday that the hospital will work to operate as a “locally-controlled, independent community hospital” after the end of its current partnership with a St. Louis-based health care provider.
The announcement, made via a Facebook post, said the board chose not to explore partnering with another national healthcare provider.
“We are actively working with professional advisors to finalize our future direction and we are making progress,” the trustees said in the statement addressed to the public. “To date, we have had informal conversations with many local physicians and regional healthcare providers who are excited about the possibility of future partnerships, and we will continue to engage with them.”
The board began reviewing options for its next lease in 2017 as a deadline approached to let BJC Healthcare, the St. Louis-based health care provider that currently runs the hospital, know whether the board would renew the lease. The lease with BJC ends in 2020 and will conclude about 30 years of BJC running the county-owned hospital.
“While we still have work to do, we are encouraged by the support we have received from patients, employees, physicians and members of the community. We will continue to provide updates on our progress.”
LIVE PLAYBACK: Trustees open session meeting
The board went into exclusive negotiations with University of Missouri Health Care for the management of Boone Hospital Center in 2017, but those talks fell apart after about six months.
In addition to BJC and MU Health, Tennessee-based Duke LifePoint and Kansas City-based St. Luke’s also submitted proposals to run the hospital. The fifth option was for the hospital to be run locally as a standalone operation.
The trustees said in a news release in January that they had narrowed down the options to a partnership with a national health care provider or running the hospital locally as a standalone operation.
Trustees Chairman Brian Neuner said at the meeting that he was resigning from the board. Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill said the commission has appointed physician and former Columbia mayor Bob McDavid to fill Neuner’s spot until an election can be held.
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