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Mexico officials sign letter of intent for possible hospital

Audrain Community Hospital shuttered its doors in March 2022, leaving the county of 25,000 people with no access to hospital care.
Joe Martinez
/
KFF Health News
Audrain Community Hospital shuttered its doors in March 2022, leaving the county of 25,000 people with no access to hospital care.

Local officials in Mexico, Missouri, signed a letter of intent with Boone Health Monday evening, beginning an exclusive discussion about opening a critical access hospital in the city.

After about 100 years of operation, Audrain Community Hospital closed in 2022, leaving the county without any hospital-based services. Last year, city leaders and members of the Audrain County Health Department and County Commission formed a government healthcare committee, hoping to restore hospital care to the area.

“We’re kind of on an island a little bit out here,” said Mexico City Manager Bruce Slagle. “You’re 35-40 miles away from the next hospital, and in emergency situations, that can be life and death. And so, it is extremely important to have a facility local that can take care of a lot of those basic needs.”

For a county of 25,000 people, the lack of hospital care has been a challenge, said Audrain County Health Department CEO Craig Brace.

“We [will] begin to immediately see the benefits of having an emergency room available 24/7, which we don’t have right now,” Brace said.

Though Mexico still has plenty of primary care providers, Brace said the area’s ambulance district has been operating as an emergency room and transporting people to Columbia hospitals in life-threatening situations. Opening a hospital in Mexico will also allow residents to stay home for elective surgeries and outpatient procedures, he said.

“Once the hospital’s here, it’s going to be also, economically, a very positive benefit for us as well,” said Brace, adding that businesses want to locate in communities with adequate healthcare services.

Unlike Mexico’s last hospital, Slagle said the potential new one would be a Medicare-certified critical access hospital, meaning that it would receive a higher rate of reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It would also be a smaller hospital than the last, providing a pared-down version of only necessary services.

“The way healthcare is going in the country as a whole – rural hospitals have become much more basic services,” Slagle said. “We’re not under any assumption that we’re going to be doing any heart transplants or anything to that nature. All of those types of things are going certainly to the larger area.”

The letter of intent was signed after the government healthcare committee completed a feasibility study with accounting firm FORVIS, concluding that it would be possible for Mexico to open a hospital if supported by a reputable operator. After putting out the call to healthcare services, Brace said Boone Health showed a strong interest in the cause.

“We look forward to the potential of partnering with the Audrain County municipalities to bring a vital resource to the region. Access to quality emergency care can save lives, and we are committed to making this project a reality," said Brady Dubois, president and CEO of Boone Health, in a press release following the signing.

According to Boone Health, the signed letter outlines the intent of all parties to work toward an agreement for the potential hospital. It is non-binding, and it doesn’t guarantee there will be a new hospital, though – just that Boone Health is the only healthcare firm with which city and county officials will work.

“This is a public acknowledgement that serious due diligence is going to be performed to move us closer to the reality of building a new critical care access hospital here in Mexico,” Brace said, adding that he felt very confident the partnership would be successful.

Moving forward, Boone Health and Mexico and Audrain officials will determine the parameters for the hospital’s size and services provided while working toward a lease agreement. Officials say the exact plan for funding is yet to be determined, but county residents will not be asked to pay an additional tax.

Brace said they hope to reach an agreement in the next 3-6 months. Actual site preparation and construction of the hospital would take around three years, he said.

“In my heart of hearts, from all indications we have a high degree of confidence that it's not just if, but when, the hospital will be established and we will be breaking ground,” Brace said.

Lilley Halloran is majoring in journalism and constitutional democracy at the University of Missouri, with minors in political science and history. She is a reporter for KBIA, and has previously completed two internships with St. Louis Public Radio.
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