Mercy Takes Steps to Build New Medical Campus in Wentzville

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Apr 05, 2024, 08:00 ET

WENTZVILLE, Mo., April 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercy filed a letter of intent with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to construct a 75-bed, next-generation hospital in Wentzville, Missouri. By addressing the soaring population growth in the state's tri-county area – encompassing St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties – Mercy hopes to bring care to the significant number of patients who live in those counties today. With a projected investment of $650 million, the 483,000-square-foot medical complex will be located on approximately 60 acres near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Interstate 70 and be the state's first completely new, acute-care hospital campus built since 2015 when Mercy opened its hospital in Joplin following the 2011 tornado.

Mercy's focus on the tri-county region began in 2010 when a community master plan was developed, tapping area residents and leaders for feedback about needed services. As the lowest cost and highest quality health care provider in the state, Mercy wants to ensure consumers and employers can more easily access its care in the tri-county region. Mercy intends to expand its model of affordable health care to the tri-county area in the years to come.

"We have grown our Mercy presence in the area over the past decade from three locations to nearly 40, providing adult and pediatric primary and specialty care as well as a critical access hospital in Troy," said Steve Mackin, Mercy president and CEO. "Now is the time to invest in the future and better serve our patients closer to home. Our data shows us many Mercy patients travel, sometimes more than an hour, from Lincoln and Warren counties into St. Louis County. The need for this facility, while significant today, will only increase as projected growth continues."

When tri-county residents are admitted to a hospital, 18 out of every 100 (or 18%) of them travel for care at a Mercy hospital. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties are three of the top seven fastest growing counties in the state. By 2032, the population in the area is predicted to grow by approximately 9.5%, to more than 500,000 residents.

St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann expressed his appreciation after a briefing on the plans. "Mercy is a well-respected provider of health services in the region and we welcome both the hospital and specialty services surrounding it to St. Charles County." Ehlmann also noted that many St. Charles County residents are already using Mercy doctors and services and a hospital location in the Wentzville area will cut down on time it takes to reach those services.

Mercy values openness and transparency. As done in 2010 with its community master plan, Mercy officials will hold roundtable discussions that allow the public and community leaders an opportunity to provide feedback and ideas for the new hospital and expanding health care services in the region. Updates on the process can be found at Mercy.net/WentzvilleCampus, as they become available.

"I'm excited to see the Mercy project coming to Wentzville. This investment will create jobs and significantly enhance health care services in this area, positioning Wentzville as a regional destination for health care," said Wentzville Mayor Nick Guccione. "We welcome Mercy to Wentzville, confident that it will help meet our growing health care needs and contribute to our area's vitality."

In addition to making health care more convenient for patients, the new facility will bring hundreds of new long-term health care jobs to the region including more primary care physicians, specialists, nurses and other support services. More immediately, the project will bring local, union construction jobs to the region, with the work expected to take about four years.

"Like the Sisters of Mercy before us, we are addressing a need in an area that is lacking enough hospital beds for the growing population," Mackin said. "When the current Mercy Hospital St. Louis was built, the area was an apple orchard surrounded by rural farmland – the Sisters' intuition was correct. As the metro area continues its westward growth, Mercy once again will seek to serve patients so they remain close to home."

Mercy, one of the 20 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized care and one of the nation's largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including more than 50 acute care and specialty (heart, children's, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 900 physician practice locations and outpatient facilities, more than 4,500 physicians and advanced practitioners and 50,000 co-workers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2023 alone, Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and other community benefits, including traditional charity care and unreimbursed Medicaid.