Healthy Economy, Healthy Community: The Vital Link of Health Care in Springfield (Sponsor Letter)

To kick off the 2024 SBJ Economic Growth Series, we are looking at the current and future state of our community’s economy. Not surprisingly, Springfield’s economic future looks strong. As a community, we’ve distributed our investments and resources across a range of industries, but there’s one industry that still leads our community in terms of economic impact and employment: Health care.

Locally, the health care and social assistance industry employs approximately 41,000 people and in 2022 produced $3.8 billion in GDP for the Springfield metro area. When I step back and think about how we at Mercy and our friends at CoxHealth, Burrell Behavioral Health, Arc of the Ozarks, Jordan Valley and others impact Springfield’s economy, it quickly becomes clear that our impact is huge.

Yes, our industry is the largest employer in town. Yes, we bring new technologies and treatments to the area, which in turn attracts patients from across the Ozarks to Springfield for care. And yes, it’s true that nationally, there’s a correlation between a robust health care system and a strong economy, but our economic impact is also seen on an individual level.

One of the toughest tasks for any health care operator is recruitment, and for a large system like Mercy, we have to convince trained specialists to relocate their families and their careers to the Ozarks. We often see physicians who were skeptical about Springfield become excited to relocate once they come visit. I experienced this myself when I moved my family to Springfield from Kansas City. I didn’t have any connection to Springfield before relocating, but I could quickly envision Springfield as our home.

New recruits get excited about our K-12 and higher education systems and our easy access to the outdoors. They see a place where they can raise their families and enjoy an easier life. It’s so appealing in fact that at Mercy Springfield, we see a much lower physician turnover rate of 7.6% compared to the national average of 16.7%.

On a patient level, we see our economic impact daily. We see the new moms who give birth at our hospital and start their families in our region. We see the nursing and medical students who get their training in our hospital and clinics adding to our future workforce pipeline. We see the cancer patients who get the latest treatments at our Chub O’Reilly Cancer Center and get to return to work and to their families. There is no doubt that a robust health care system like what we have in Springfield ensures every other local industry has a healthy workforce.

Our size is a strength here at Mercy. It means we have the resources to invest in rural health care, we have access to the latest and greatest treatments and technologies, and we have the resources our patients need. It’s why we were able to bring the St. Jude clinic to our campus, build a new emergency department on the south side of town, and continue to invest in our region, in our people and in Springfield.

As we kick off the 2024 SBJ Economic Growth Series, I’m excited to talk about the growth and the areas of opportunity the data has identified. I’m also excited for the chance to celebrate Springfield and all the great things that are happening here.

–John Myers, President, Mercy Springfield Communities