CoxHealth, St. Louis Children’s and WashU Medicine formally launch pediatric partnership 

This morning, CoxHealth formalized a collaboration with St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University Medicine to expand pediatric services in southwest Missouri. 

The partners plan to build a pediatric hospital within CoxHealth, along with the construction of a comprehensive outpatient center that will include ambulatory surgery, pediatric primary and specialty care clinics, imaging, laboratory services and infusion, officials said at a news conference. CoxHealth in May 2024 announced its planned partnership with St. Louis Children’s Hospital and WashU, but new details were revealed this morning. 

“We will build a pediatric hospital within the walls of Cox South,” said Ashley Casad, senior vice president of CoxHealth and president of CoxHealth Springfield Hospitals. She added that an outpatient pediatric center will be built to take care of children only, and sub-specialists will be recruited to the area.,”  

The partnership opens up CoxHealth to the nationally recognized expertise of St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine and promises to bring more advanced care to children and families in Springfield and the surrounding region, officials say. A goal is to reduce the need for families to travel long distances for care. 

BJC HealthCare operates St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which provides inpatient and outpatient medical care across 50-plus specialty areas, according to its website, which says it offers comprehensive services in every pediatric and medical surgical specialty. 

Founded in 1879, St. Louis Children’s Hospital was the first hospital for children west of the Mississippi River and began in a rented house with 15 beds, according to the website. 

Today, St. Louis Children’s Hospital has 455 licensed beds, including 77 for pediatric intensive care, 150 for neonatal intensive care and 16 for pediatric bone marrow transplant patients. 

The website notes the hospital has 3,423 employees and 881 physicians and gets 275,000 patient visits each year. It is the teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicine, which receives about 150,000 patient visits annually. Physicians at the hospital serve as faculty for WUSM. 

Trish Lollo, president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, said the agreement will bring a new, comprehensive pediatric outpatient center to CoxHealth. It will include specialty pediatric clinics, therapies, operating rooms and radiology services, she said. 

She added that a result will be improved recruitment of medical professionals to the area. 

“There is no question that this is what is right and needed for children and families here in Springfield and across southwest Missouri,” she said. 

Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag remarked in an interview with Springfield Business Journal on the importance of the milestone for the city. 

“This is a fabulous thing,” he said. “It’s yet another bit of evidence of our rise as a metropolitan area. We have many gems in our basket of great assets in Springfield, but none shine brighter than health care.” 

In his public remarks, Schrag said outstanding health care is a key part of the strong foundation the city has built as a community. He praised CoxHealth for its initiative. 

“Our region’s greatest strength is our people, working together toward a common goal,” he said. “There is no better example of that collaboration than the collaboration that CoxHealth has put together to make this dream a reality.” 

Added Schrag, “Springfield’s brightest days are ahead of us, and I am so proud to see this project kicked off because it means so much for the region and so much for the region’s families.” 

Max Buetow, president and CEO of CoxHealth, called the day a joyous day of success for families of pediatric patients. 

He said CoxHealth listened to families who said they had to leave the community for care. It’s a statistic that applies to one in three families, he said, adding that roughly 15%-20% of kids don’t leave the community, often because their families can’t afford the cost or to leave work. He noted establishing a pediatric hub locally will keep families local. 

Dr. Kofi Asare-Bawuah, medical director of children’s services for CoxHealth, shared the story of a child who choked at a baseball game and had to be airlifted to St. Louis for specialized lung care that was not available in Springfield. 

The collaboration will change the experience for families facing health care challenges, Asare-Bawuah said. 

“Today marks the beginning of us being able to improve the health care subspecialty access for our families,” he said. 

CoxHealth Board of Directors member Rob Fulp said it’s an important day for CoxHealth, and it’s one that would not have been possible without the efforts of Lester E. Cox, who worked to bring the former Burge Deaconess Hospital, established in 1906, back from the point of near closure for financial insolvency in the 1940s. 

“Not only is this a game-changing day for the children and families of this region, but it’s such an important milestone in the legacy of Lester E. Cox,” Fulp said. 

CoxHealth spokesperson Randy Berger said cost figures and a specific timeline are not yet available for the expansion project. 

BJC and WashU  
Nick Barto, president of BJC HealthCare, said it was a privilege to extend the hospital system’s expertise to the children of southwest Missouri. 

“This is an important day for us at BJC, and I know it’s an important day for CoxHealth and for the families here in southwest Missouri,” he said. 

Barto noted BJC and WashU signed a 45-year extension of their affiliation agreement. 

David Perlmutter, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of WashU Medicine, also addressed the crowd, pointing to the progress WashU has made in pediatric care. 

He added that the engine of WashU medicine is to bring improvements in care and better health to communities. He referred to the virtuous cycle of clinical care leading to improved patient outcomes. 

“The mandate of the virtuous cycle, our North Star, is to always get the highest-quality care and the latest innovation to as many people as possible,” he said. 

He added that a great plan has already been crafted. 

“We believe it will truly deliver for the children who need the care it will provide,” he said. 

St. Louis Children’s Hospital 
St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Department of Pediatrics is recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a Child Health Research Center of Excellence in Developmental Biology, a status conferred only a handful of centers nationwide, the website states. 

St. Louis Children’s Hospital and WUSM operate the Children’s Discovery Institute, a research, diagnostic and treatment center for pediatric diseases with access to human genomics to advance treatment of diseases with genetic origins: congenital heart, lung and respiratory diseases, cancer and musculoskeletal and metabolic diseases. 

The hospital is also a Level 1 pediatric trauma center – the only American College of Surgeons-recognized pediatric trauma center in Missouri and Illinois. It is also the only pediatric trauma center in the region to reattach and revascularize severed limbs, its website notes. 

The hospital also operates transplant programs for heart, liver, kidney, lung and bone marrow, and it has the distinction of performing the first bone marrow transplant, according to the website. 

The hospital also boasts a Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Institute for head and neck deformities, an epilepsy center, a cochlear implant program, cast correction for clubfoot, a Cerebral Palsy Center and Center for Cerebral Palsy Spasticity, a cardiac catheterization lab, the longest childhood asthma study ever, and heart and lung transplant expertise.