Health industry investments, workforce draw attention at chamber conference

Staci Rogers: Phase 2 of CMH's expansion and renovation project is in progress.

A cross-section of healthcare officials covered a myriad of topics, including workforce investments, hiring challenges and projects addressing industry needs, at an annual Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce event. 

The April 29 Health Care Outlook, which typically involves a panel discussion focused on industry issues, took place with a bit of a different format this year. A half-dozen presenters took the stage before an audience of around 300 during the event at the DoubleTree by Hilton. All of the major health care systems in the Springfield area – CoxHealth, Mercy Springfield Communities, Jordan Valley Health and Citizens Memorial Hospital – were represented by speakers, who briefly spoke individually regarding areas such as organizational priorities.

Steve Prange, director of business development strategy for engineering and consulting firm Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc., also serves on the board of directors for the Springfield Business Development Corp., the economic development arm of the Springfield chamber. Before the presentation by the healthcare representatives, he reminded the audience that the industry’s strength is essential to a strong regional economic partnership. 

“It supports jobs, serves families, attracts talent and helps create a kind of community where people want to build their career and lives,” he said of the industry in which CoxHealth and Mercy are Springfield’s two largest employers. “The organizations represented in this room are not only caring for our communities, but they are also helping shape the workforce, partnerships and investments that will define the next chapter of our regional growth.”

Making investments 
Growing the talent pipeline to help address the need for healthcare professionals, particularly physicians, was behind the University of Missouri School of Medicine’s 2016 launch of a clinical campus in Springfield. Dr. David Haustein, associate dean at the medical school, said the Springfield campus started at nine students per class and currently is up to 28 students for each cohort. MU recently announced expansion of the local campus to a four-year medical school that will have 32 students per class beginning with the 2027-28 academic year.

“While we have made progress, significant gaps remain,” he said, noting that factor contributed to the Springfield campus expansion. “We do not yet have enough neurologists and psychiatrists in our region, which limits the number of teachers and mentors our students can have. At its core, the issue is simple. We need more physicians here. Meeting that need will require continued partnership across health systems, universities and this community.”

According to National Center for Health Workforce data, physician shortages are projected by 2038 to reach over 141,000 nationally and nearly 2,000 in Missouri. 

Healthcare investments are in motion in Bolivar for CMH, said Dr. Staci Rogers, chief medical officer. The healthcare provider is amid a $100 million expansion and renovation project, and the three-story, roughly 117,000-square-foot addition on the south side of the hospital is fully open as of late April, she said. With the new tower, the hospital now has 29 patient rooms in its emergency department, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. 

“Phase 2 of this project is currently kicking off, which will expand our operating room capabilities and add two new state-of-the-art cardiac (catheterization) labs to our campus,” she said of the 25,000 square feet to be renovated in the original part of the hospital, which opened in 1982.

Rogers said other investments in the healthcare system in recent months included opening a new infusion center to support oncology care with Central Care Cancer Center, as well as a new $7.3 million outpatient dialysis center near the hospital. 

Overcoming barriers
For Matthew Stinson, president and CEO at Jordan Valley Health, he said one of the things that those navigating healthcare frequently experience are barriers. He said his own mother recently dealt with difficulties getting a referral appointment set up for a health issue she was experiencing. 

“One of the things I feel like we work really hard at Jordan Valley, and again, we make mistakes, is how do we break down those barriers to care? So, we talk regularly about how do we get to ‘yes’ for our patients,” he said, noting that question is covered most every time he’s in meetings with administrators. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that we always give them what they want. What it does mean is that we go into the conversation seeing how can we get as close to what they want or what they need as possible.

“As much as I say we want to get to ‘yes,’ really the people who have to do it are those who are on the front line. It’s the people who interact with our patients every day,” he added. “We need them to be critically thinking about solving those problems, so it doesn’t rise up to our level where we’re not really interacting with them every day.”

At Jordan Valley, he said an example of breaking down barriers involved its recent partnership with Springfield Public Schools for school-based care. Students at 12 SPS schools have access in the program to medical, dental and vision care during the school day, according to past SBJ reporting. Through the partnership, services are offered on-site via mobile clinics. The goal is to aid families by removing healthcare access barriers such as transportation and time away from work.

Workforce pathways
Shallina Goodnight, executive director of The Alliance for Healthcare Education, spoke about workforce challenges at the event. Founded in 2023 by CoxHealth, Missouri State University, Ozarks Technical Community College and SPS, the partnership was started to create affordable pathways into health care careers and address workforce shortages. 

Goodnight said local industry officials aren’t taking a “wait-and-see approach” to healthcare workforce shortages. Noting that the industry is a strength for the Springfield area, she said boosting workforce development isn’t coming from a place of fear or uncertainty. 

“It comes from a place of how do we protect this incredible resource that our region has that is an economic advantage and make sure that that’s not only protected, but able to grow, expand and evolve, as we know that it will in the future,” she said, adding that the alliance is not a school or employer. “That’s why the alliance was born. The alliance is essentially made to bring together and bridge K-12, higher education, as well as workforce, bringing those things together in a way that makes that smoother, more accessible, more affordable and connected to real workforce demand.”

Missouri Hospital Association’s 2025 workforce survey noted that while the state’s healthcare job turnover rate declined slightly from 2021 post-pandemic spikes, they remain relatively elevated.

Like CMH, The Alliance for Healthcare Education is amid a renovation project of its own, estimated to conclude by this summer, according to past SBJ reporting. Roughly 45,000 square feet in Cox College began to be renovated last year as a $15 million expansion of its footprint for students on the Cox North campus. 

Goodnight said the alliance isn’t limited to just high school or college students but is also for any adult who has a heart for healthcare, even those already in the clinical field. 

“The alliance was not built for one organization, to support one health system or one provider or another,” she said. “It was made to support this entire region.”