Trustees narrow Boone Hospital Center options to two
Only two options among five are still in play for the management of Boone Hospital Center.
The Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees in a news release Tuesday said it has narrowed down the options to a partnership with a national health care provider or running the hospital locally as a standalone operation.
“The Trustees are now simultaneously evaluating each option,” the board said in the release.
Matt McCormick, president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, said Boone Hospital Center is important to the local economy, so it’s key for the Chamber to support the hospital.
“You know you definitely want somebody that is going to be active in the community, making sure that Boone Hospital has the ability to stay active in the community,” he said.
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.
The trustees directed questions to the board’s attorney, Tom Schneider. Schneider did not respond to a message seeking more information.
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 might be close to reaching their decision. Schneider told ABC 17 News in September that he expected a decision in about six months. The county receives millions of dollars each year in payments from BJC under the terms of the current lease.
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