2015 Business Class Honoree: Citizens Memorial Healthcare

Citizens Memorial Healthcare just keeps growing, collecting awards and accolades along the way.

The Bolivar-based health care system, which has been at or near 10 percent revenue growth the past three years, recently opened or will soon debut several new medical and education spaces.

Last year, the Kerry and Synda Douglas Medical Center added 80,000 square feet, including four new surgical suites, and an additional 23,000 square feet is being finished. In February 2014, CMH began a STEMI Center — ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction — that’s staffed 24/7 for cardiac care patients between Springfield and Kansas City. And last fall, CMH broke ground on a 14,000-square-foot clinic for women and children and a 28,000-square-foot education center for nursing training, among other medical programs. Both buildings are slated for completion in the fall.

“We’ve really planned our growth, and we do it in stages,” says Donald Babb, CMH’s CEO since the system was founded in 1982. “We continually grow our service area and the services we provide.”

CMH, which covers a mostly rural population in nine counties, is a combination of two entities, Babb says. CMH includes the hospital and ambulance services and employs the physicians, and the nonprofit Citizens Memorial Health Care Foundation owns and operates long-term living facilities, home care, hospice and the surgical center. Babb is the foundation’s executive director.

CMH is a perennial honoree on Springfield Business Journal’s Dynamic Dozen list and is a previous recipient of SBJ’s Business Class award. The system is a two-time winner of the Missouri Quality Award, which recognizes performance excellence in the state. And in February, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network recognized CMH for reaching its goal of increased patient safety and reduced preventable admissions between 2012 and 2014.

CMH went completely paperless in 2003, a move that put it far ahead of many health care entities in the country. As CMH grew and expanded its reach, doctors weren’t always able to access patients’ records as they crossed services, which sparked the move, Babb says.

The change didn’t go unnoticed. In 2014, CMH won a Most Wired Innovator Award from Hospitals & Health Networks, the flagship publication of the American Hospital Association, in a category that also recognized health systems in Pittsburgh and South Miami.

Decreased reimbursements are a continual health care challenge, and CMH is looking for ways to replace dollars that are being taken away. One way is operating a retail pharmacy, a new endeavor CMH launched in Osceola.

With projected revenue growth of 10-15 percent in 2016, Babb sees plenty of opportunity to continue reaching into new areas – such as long-term care – and add to its employment base of roughly 130 physicians already on staff. If prospective doctors and other medical staff are persuaded to visit CMH, they will likely stay, Babb says. Last year, CMH hired 33 physicians alone.

“We have a lot of people who enter into our system that we provide care for,” Babb says.