2015 Dynamic Dozen No. 10: Citizens Memorial Healthcare

In 1981, Donald Babb had a vision to bring quality health care to Bolivar. Citizens Memorial Hospital opened with five physicians and 92 employees attending 56 beds, housed in 45,000 square feet.

By 2015, that vision has blossomed into health care for residents in nine counties.

“We now have over 1 million square feet, 130 physicians at different levels and over 1,800 employees,” Babb says. “We have had a lot of growth, and we continue to grow at a significant rate.”

That expansion includes 32 facilities in a health care system offering services from birth to long-term care for seniors and hospice patients. In 2014, clinics opened in Buffalo and Osceola, where CMH also opened a community pharmacy and a rehabilitation clinic and began offering EMS and ambulance service. Missouri Memory Center, offering diagnosis and treatment of memory problems, opened in February in Bolivar.

An expansion of the Kerry and Synda Douglas Medical Center, built in 2008, adds 80,000 square feet to its existing 40,000. Additions include surgical suites, an endoscopic lab, the Breast Care Center, an imaging center and medical labs, with plans for more services as construction continues through June.

Development of a 14,000-square-foot women’s and children’s clinic began in November and is scheduled to be complete in January 2016, and in Stockton, CMH plans to build a long-term care facility next to the Stockton Family Medical Center and convert the Lake Stockton Healthcare building into an assisted living facility.

CMH’s expanded services are a result of a three-year comprehensive plan created by the hospital’s board of directors and medical staff, Babb says.

“We go through a process each year to evaluate where to expand,” he says, “so we have a footprint of where we want to go.”

Tamera Heitz-Peek, CMH’s director of marketing since 2005, says it’s a team effort.

“Mr. Babb, the board and key people on staff who have been here a long time work really well together to anticipate what’s coming up,” she says. “The planning they go through allows them to adapt and accommodate for that.”

Revenue growth has kept pace with the dynamic facility expansion.

In 2012, gross revenue was $297 million; by 2014, gross revenue grew to $356 million, an increase of nearly 20 percent for the past three years. CMH also has added staff to keep up with demand, from 1,157 full-time and 477 part-time employees in 2012 to 1,374 full-time and 458 part-time in 2014.

“We continue to grow inpatient and outpatient volume,” he says. “We will have about 225,000 clinic visits predicted by May 31, the end of our fiscal year. We have recruited a lot of new physicians and staff as new services allow us to expand into areas we haven’t been in the past.”

CMH, in partnership with Bolivar Technical College, will offer at its CMH Education Center programs for registered nurses, certified nurses assistants, medical technicians and other health care careers. The center is slated for a December opening.

Up to 50 scholarships are awarded each year, Babb says, and the health care system offers graduates the opportunity to work off tuition expenses as employees of CMH.[[In-content Ad]]