Audrain County, City of Mexico partner to buy shuttered hospital
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Local governments have partnered with a non-profit foundation to buy a shuttered hospital in Mexico, Missouri.
The governments of Mexico and Audrain County and the Audrain Community Hospital Foundation purchased the Audrain Community Hospital building during a foreclosure sale on the courthouse steps, according to a news release from the county health department.
The purchase price was $1,001,000, City Manager Bruce Slagle wrote in an email.
“Our goal in purchasing the hospital building is to fulfill our #1 priority for the residents of Audrain County and surrounding communities: restore sustainable hospital services for area residents,” Alan Winders, Audrain County presiding commissioner, says in the release. “We don’t know the future of the building itself but having local control and ownership of the property is in our best interest.”
The local governments are trying to find a hospital operator who has a long-term commitment, the release says.
Mexico lost its hospital in 2022 after the Nobel Health Group announced they were suspending operations in Callaway and Audrain County. ZivaMed also laid off workers and closed Audrain Community Hospital in January.
The former Noble employees at the Mexico hospital and another in Fulton allege in a filing in the company's bankruptcy suit that Noble failed to pay their insurance premiums, leading to uncovered claims, and failed to pay them.
State Rep. Kent Haden (R-Mexico) emphasized the critical need for the hospital's reopening in the community.
"This is a chance for the community to move forward and say, 'Okay, now we've got it settled.' The community has control of the hospital and the site," Haden said. "What are all the available options we can pursue? Part of that building is newer and could potentially operate as a rural hospital center fairly quickly."
Haden also mentioned that, ideally, the hospital could be up and running within six to nine months if everything goes as planned.
Boone Hospital signed an agreement with the county in April to study the area's medical needs in anticipation of building a new hospital. County officials said in the news release that the purchase won't affect Boone's plans.
