Boone Health looking for ‘strategic partner’ as it eyes growth
Lucas Geisler
(Editor’s note, 7/8: This story has been updated with a new quote from Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick.)
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Boone Health is seeking a partner to help it expand, according to the independent system’s top executive.
Boone Health announced on Tuesday its search for a possible new “strategic partner.” Boone Health wants to find another health care company to help it grow as the medical system goes through one of its best years since going independent, according to CEO Brady Dubois.
Boone Health’s last partnership, with BJC Health Care, ended in 2021. In an interview with reporters on Monday, Dubois said the hospital’s board of trustees has already reached out to more than a dozen health systems to gauge interest. The board has also hired Juniper Advisory to help them with the search.
“It’s about finding a partner in another health system that has the same values, the same culture that wants to invest in health care in Mid-Missouri,” Dubois said.
Dubois said Boone Health’s quality and “culture” would not be sacrificed as part of the search for a partner.
“People want to be loved on, they want to be cared for,” Dubois said. “They want clinical excellence when they come into a hospital. That’s the most important thing we offer for Mid-Missouri. And so that’s our never capitulate on, never give on, that’s our hard and fast.”
Dubois said Boone Health has seen steady patient growth in 2025. Emergency room visits have gone up from a monthly average of 2,200 people before independence to 3,300 so far this year. Hospital admissions are up nearly 8% for the first five months of 2025 compared to the same time in 2024. Financially, Boone Health has $195.5 million in operating revenue from January to May 2025, up from the $183.3 million made in that time last year.
New numbers about expenses aren’t yet available.
Dubois said that emergency room growth, though, has taken place with the same 16-bed emergency room it had before the hospital went independent. Couple that with the system’s need for space to grow and an ongoing project to re-open the shuttered Audrain County hospital in Mexico, and Dubois said the time is right to explore a partnership.
“How do we take care of tomorrow’s patients?” Dubois said. “We’re taking care of them today, but how do we build access points, how do we build our ability to not only reach out, but also just meet current demand with a new ER, further expansion of services here at Boone, and those things are why we’re doing this.”
Dubois said Boone Health was most interested in either a membership substitution or a joint venture with another health company. A partnership would likely turn Boone Health’s two boards — the elected Board of Trustees and appointed Board of Directors — into advisory roles for the health system at Boone Hospital.
Any potential sale of Boone Hospital would need further discussion between the board and the county commission. Dubois said Boone Health had a list of well-known national players in the industry as well as some it had worked with in the past that it would let know about the process.
“There’s different nuances with all of them, but all the health systems are invited throughout the state,” Dubois said.
Presiding commissioner Kip Kendrick told ABC 17 News Tuesday morning that he felt the exploration of a strategic partner was a good move for Boone Health.
“Greater access to health care in the mid-Missouri market will ensure that Boone County remains a destination for health care needs,” Kendrick said in a text.
Liberty Hospital, a publicly-owned hospital just north of Kansas City, last week celebrated one year of its partnership with the University of Kansas Health System.