CoxHealth Partnering with St. Louis Children’s Hospital to Expand Pediatric Care in Southwest Missouri

The Ozarks may soon get more opportunities for pediatric care, as CoxHealth is partnering with St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

In a release from Cox Tuesday, officials say they signed an agreement with St. Louis Children’s to make medical care for children more accessible, more advanced, and more sustainable across southwest Missouri.

Some of the plans include:

• The creation of an independent outpatient pediatric center that will allow families to stay close by, reducing travel costs.
• Strengthening the CoxHealth pediatric and NICU units by partering with clinicians at both SLCH and Washington University.
• Joining forces to recruit and retain pediatric providers to serve the children of southwest Missouri.

Officials for both hospitals are hoping that a final agreement between the two parties will be signed in the coming months.

A release from CoxHealth on the partnership can be found below:

“Transforming pediatric care was our focus when we began discussions on a historic partnership for children’s care, and it is our focus now, even as Mercy has chosen to abruptly change course. This is why we were surprised to learn late last night that Mercy has ended the proposed collaboration in order to pursue an exclusive partnership with Children’s Mercy in Kansas City. We are greatly disappointed that Mercy made this announcement with minimal notice to us, and to the community.“