Alliance to train health care workers for region

Amy Wutke: Health care educators must change what they are doing to meet community needs.

It was Amy Wutke, president of Cox College, who first raised the idea that culminated in the Aug. 29 public introduction of the Alliance for Healthcare Education.

CoxHealth, Missouri State University, Ozarks Technical Community College and Springfield Public Schools joined forces to form the alliance, which aims to train health care professionals to serve the region.

In announcing the alliance at a news conference at Cox College, leaders of the partner institutions predicted it would be the largest producer of health sciences professionals in the Midwest, improving access to training opportunities while boosting affordability for students.

Wutke said she approached Max Buetow, CoxHealth’s president and CEO, with the initial idea roughly two years ago.

“As the community is asking for more health care professionals, understanding the higher ed landscape, it seemed to me like we can’t keep doing what we’re doing the way we’ve always done it and expect that we’re going to meet the needs of our community,” she said.

The idea took hold with Buetow, who gathered the leaders to develop the plan for the new institution, which will ultimately replace Cox College after current students graduate. Leaders of the alliance include Buetow, Clif Smart, president of MSU; Hal Higdon, chancellor of OTC; and Grenita Lathan, superintendent of SPS.

“There’s an electrifying air of collaboration in our community,” Buetow said during the news conference. “There are many challenges and opportunities for our region, and it’s encouraging to see community leaders come together to solve our common needs.”

Approval from the Higher Learning Commission could take a year or more, officials say. If it is granted, Cox College will stop accepting students in spring 2025, and its students will be able to spend a year or two to complete their degree program, according to Wutke. OTC will begin administering two-year programs, and MSU will begin administering four-year and graduate programs.

Strengthening the pipeline
“This is really going to be a wonderful opportunity for students who want a career in health care,” Wutke said in an interview following the announcement. “Students will have affordable, fast, easy options that translate into jobs as soon as they graduate.”

She noted the cost to attend Cox College, a private institution, is higher than the cost of enrolling in OTC or MSU.

Cox College began as Burge Deaconess Training School for Nurses in 1907 and became the Lester L. Cox College of Nursing & Health Sciences in 1996 – shortened to Cox College in 2008.

“It’s quite a legacy, but that legacy is not going away,” Wutke said, noting Cox College will be absorbed into the alliance.

“The mission of all of us, which is to teach health science professionals for the future, is not changing, so the faculty and staff of Cox College are going to participate in the work,” she said. “We know that we’re going to need faculty to accommodate the growth.”

Cox College faculty and staff will be given priority in hiring as they wind down their teaching obligations in the present program, according to Smart and Higdon. In the spring, Cox College reported 116 employees and 792 students, an enrollment figure that was down 9% from the previous spring, in Springfield Business Journal’s list of higher education institutions.

Cox College was renovated and expanded six years ago at a cost of $6.8 million. The alliance will continue to use its 70,000-square-foot space at 1423 N. Jefferson Ave.

Springfield City Councilmember Matthew Simpson said the alliance is a big deal for the city.

“It’s going to revitalize Cox North into, I think, the leading training provider for health care professionals in the Midwest, and that’s something that has huge impacts on the whole community,” he said.

The area around the hospital also will benefit, Simpson noted.

“If you look at the neighborhoods around Cox North, it really is an anchor for them, and turning it into its full potential is going to have a positive impact on everything.”

Upping the numbers
The education and health care leaders said the collaboration is expected to increase the number of students currently receiving health care education in the region.

“By refining and simplifying these educational pathways, our community’s medical providers will have access to a larger pool of well-qualified professionals capable of fulfilling vital roles from administration to the operating room,” officials noted in a statement released prior to the news conference.

OTC and SPS will establish health education programs for high school juniors and seniors, who will be able to simultaneously complete their high school diploma while earning an associate degree.

In an interview before the public announcement, Higdon said the Alliance for Healthcare Education will kick off with an expansion of its Middle College with SPS students in 2024.

“We will actually start a year early with SPS in ‘24 on our campus here to begin a health care expansion, and then we will take over those programs that are appropriate for a community college as associate degree programs,” he said.

Smart said Cox College has a teach-out arrangement with its current students, a process that will take two to three years to complete courses for students currently enrolled. Beyond that, four-year and graduate programs will transition to MSU.

“As that transition rolls out, the goal is to grow all of the programs,” he said prior to the announcement.

Smart said alliance leaders expect an expansion beyond SPS to include other high schools.

“We envision most, if not all, of the high schools in our region coming into the mix, because the goal is to provide more graduates in this critical area,” he said.

The 2023 Workforce Report by the Missouri Hospital Association noted a 17.4% registered nurse vacancy rate in the state, with a 16.7% vacancy rate in the Ozark region, which includes Greene County.

Buetow noted the alliance also will serve existing health care workers.

“We have a lot of folks that are at a ceiling in where their careers are that need a partner within our health care systems to make sure they don’t remain underemployed going forward,” he said.

The alliance will operate as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation owned by the four leaders of the partner institutions. It will be administered by a governing board made up of the CEOs of each of the entities, plus a fifth community member to be chosen by the other members. Day-to-day decisions will be the responsibility of an operations council of representatives from the four institutions.

Mercy responds
Absent from the alliance is Mercy Springfield Communities, the region’s second-largest employer. In his remarks, Higdon said there was room on board for more collaborators.

“The bottom line for me today is this is the first baby step on what could be awesome,” he said, “with these four institutions as the core looking to grow to include Mercy and all the other health care, including other school districts, other colleges, other universities.”

Higdon also praised the collaborative spirit of the region.

“We’re building something unique in southwest Missouri,” he said. “If you don’t think it’s a good idea, you probably need to find someplace else to live because this is the thing to do.”

Asked for comment following the announcement, David Argueta, president of Mercy in Springfield, noted, “Our community has been a hub for health care in southwest Missouri for decades, and the need for easily accessible care continues to grow. The need for additional health care professionals is critical to that access, and we will continue to work closely with our longtime education partners in the education and training of our future nurses and caregivers.”

Argueta said Mercy is looking forward to learning more about the alliance.

“We are grateful for all our partners in education and are confident we will continue to deepen those relationships,” he said.

Mercy has existing partnerships with SPS through the Health Sciences Academy, with 50 eighth graders spending a year at Mercy to explore careers in the medical field, and with other programming. Some 80% of MSU nursing students complete their clinical rotations with Mercy Springfield, and OTC Health Sciences students complete their clinical hours on Mercy’s medical/surgical units.

A statement from Mercy noted, “As an advocate for health care in our community, we consider anything that supports growth in our region’s health care workforce as a positive for our community.”