Springfield Business Journal_2019-07-29

26 · SBJ.NET JULY 29-AUG. 4, 2019 2019 ECONOMIC IMPACT AWARDS by Tresa McBee · Contributing Writer With $150 million in capital projects underway in southwest Missouri, Mercy Springfield Communities’ presence in the Ozarks continues to grow. Since its founding in 1891 with three Catholic nuns who arrived to assist a lo- cal doctor, the former St. John’s Hospital has grown to include regional hospitals and more than 300 clinics and outpatient facilities in a footprint that stretches from Springfield to Rolla, Cassville, Hollister and El Dorado Springs. Mercy employs more than 10,000 people in the Ozarks. The main hospital on East Cherokee Street, which opened in 1952, is joined by Mercy Orthopedic Hospital in Ozark and hospitals in Lebanon, Mountain View, Aurora and Cassville. Mercy Kids on the Springfield campus offers care in multiple pediatric specialties and includes the Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center, one of eight affiliates for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The capital projects include Mercy Heart Hospital Springfield, a clinic on Republic Road and a multispecialty clinic in Bolivar. The first phase of the heart hospital opened in November 2018, and the physicians’ practice will move there this fall, says Dr. Robert Cavagnol, president of Mercy Clinic Springfield. The 13,000-square-foot primary care clinic on Republic Road replaces an exist- ing clinic and adds space for up to 10 pro- viders with a full-service lab and imaging equipment. The new Bolivar location is a significant expansion of care in the market. “There’s been a demand in that com- munity for Mercy services,” Cavagnol says. “They would like to receive those services closer to home.” Mercy is one of a few designated “centers of excellence” for spinal care and knee- and-hip replacement as part of an initia- tive with some large employers, including Walmart and Lowe’s, to provide services in those specialties at higher quality with lower costs. Care is covered 100% for par- ticipating employees, and they can bring a caregiver with them when they visit Mercy. “It’s pretty remarkable to have that type of recognition here in Springfield (and) re- ally to have that medical tourism here in the Midwest,” says Brent Hubbard, president and chief operating officer of Mercy Hospi- tals Springfield. Mercy officials are assessing whether to expand its Mercy-GoHealth Urgent Care as well as reviewing other potential areas of growth. “There is a pent-up demand for more health care services,” Cavagnol says. “We offer almost every single service, but we’re not at the point where people can call every clinic and get in the same day. … We want to get to the point where if people call, we want to be able to see them today.” In addition to the medical care Mercy provides, the system’s dollars-and-cents impact in the Ozarks is significant — from its annual $8 million City Utilities bill and $2.1 million in property taxes to its $780 million annual payroll. “If you look at our construction, our sala- ries, our payroll, our property taxes, we are well over a billion-dollar economic im- pact,” Hubbard says. Bringing Health Closer to Home Mercy Springfield Communities Founded: 1891 Address: 1235 E. Cherokee St. Web: Mercy.net Products/Services: Health and medical services Employees: 10,123 local; 45,000 companywide 2018 Revenue: $4.7 billion Mercy Springfield Communities’ leadership team includes, from left, Jon Swope, Dr. Robert Cavagnol and Brent Hubbard. by Hanna Smith · Contributing Writer Citizens Memorial Hospital is a proac- tive provider – delivering health care ser- vices to eight counties where it strives to stay ahead of the curve. To that end, CMH has opened four specialty clinics and added pathology services in three years. “We’re very proactive about what we do and how we do it,” says CEO Donald Babb. CMH is a fully integrated rural health care system with 2,137 employees and a 2018 operating budget of $501.4 million. In addition to its hospital, the Bolivar-based organization operates 34 primary care and specialty physician clinics, senior health, rehabilitation, ambulance services in four counties, six long-term care facilities, one residential care facility, five independent- living communities, home health and hospice, health transits, home medical equip- ment stores and two retail pharmacies. Since 2016, the system’s gross revenue has increased nearly 15%. A new addition was in April 2019, when residents moved into the updated 90-bed long-term care Lake Stockton Healthcare Facility. Additionally, in July 2018, CMH launched an addiction recovery program.  “Anyone who works in health care real- izes the issue we have with addiction and just behavioral medicine,” Babb says. CMH invests in the future of research and medical technology. In 2017, its Mis- souri Memory Center was involved in the Imaging Dementia-Evidence for Amyloid Scanning study. It also purchased an additional da Vinci Surgical System.  Employee health and well being also is center stage at CMH, which offers a zero- premium option for health insurance with benefits kicking in the first month of hire. “The thing we deal with in health care is a shortage of professionals and so for us to be competitive in the market, we have to provide services,” Babb says. “It is some- thing our employees need.” CMH also annually screens more than 12,000 children in rural, public and private schools.  “We felt like it was our responsibility to provide those services for the people who in some cases cannot have health care,” Babb says. CMH offers free classes for smoking cessation and CPR. The system also works with local schools to raise the next genera- tion of practitioners with classes at Bolivar High School and by acting as a clinical site for Bolivar Technical College and South- west Baptist University. The Medical Ex- cellence Scholarship has provided over 400 students with $2.2 million in educational funding.  CMH is approaching a new chapter of leadership with Babb’s retirement sched- uled for January 2020 after more than 50 years of service. Chief Financial Officer Gary Fulbright will then take the helm. A Bolivar hospital expansion is in the planning phase, including an emergency department expansion and four-floor tow- er. The project is projected to cost at least $26 million. Also in the plans are additional clinics, a dialysis center and long-term care facilities. “We have plans and we have the need to grow and serve,” Babb says. “That will al- ways be our goal.” Proactive with Care Citizens Memorial Hospital Founded: 1982 Address: 1500 N. Oakland Ave., Bolivar Web: CitizensMemorial.com Products/services: Hospital, family medicine and specialty clinics, outpatient surgery, long-term care, residential care, home medical equipment, rehabilitation, behavioral health, emergency medical services and pharmacies Employees: 2,137 2018 Revenue: $501.4 million JESSICA ROSA Beverly Derrickson, from left, Donald Babb and Tamera Heitz-Peek are among more than 2,100 CMH employees. 30+ YEARS IN BUSINESS TOP HONORS