Ardent Health purchases Boone Health
Watch the news conference live at 3:25 p.m. in the video player.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A publicly traded health care company is buying Boone Health, Boone's CEO said Thursday.
Brady Dubois said during a news conference at Boone Hospital that Tennessee-based Ardent Health is buying the hospital.
The news conference came after the Boone County Commission approved the sale of Boone Health on Thursday after comment that lasted an hour and a half and included public comment questioning the transparency of the process.
The commission voted 3-0 to approve the sale.
Ardent stated in a news release that the deal included a $47 million cash purchase price. The company's stock has seen a steady increase this year, with a larger jump in the past two weeks.
Ardent has also committed to invest $200 million in capital improvements over 10 years and to keep Boone Health workers on the payroll.
The sale includes the land and buildings that make up the hospital
Boone County commissioners noted that the outcome without the sale would likely be the hospital going out of business, which would have other implications for quality of care.
"If we have one hospital system in this county, all of us are going to suffer,” Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson told a citizen during public comment.
Hospital leadership and a representative with Juniper Advisory, which helped the health system's board of trustees find the buyer, said costs were increasing and reimbursement is expected to decrease when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act comes into effect next year.
Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said a "no" vote by the commission would kill the deal and likely be "devastating."
According to the commission documents, Boone Health's Board of Trustees determined that it was not "financially feasible" for the hospital operations to continue operating as an independent organization.
According to previous reporting, Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said during the commission meeting Tuesday that the new "partner" is set to be announced. In the documents, the new partner is labeled as "Organization B."
Boone Health CEO Brandy Dubois said this week that Boone Health staff who are in good standing will have the option to stay and keep their pay rate if the partnership moves forward.
This is an ongoing story, check back for updates.
