Twenty-three independent Missouri hospitals form a statewide network built on staying local

RICHMOND, Mo. – At a hospital this size, patients are neighbors. Keeping their care close to home is why Ray County Hospital and Healthcare has joined 22 other independent Missouri hospitals to form the Show-Me High Value Network, a statewide collaboration designed to strengthen each participating hospital while improving the quality, affordability, and coordination of care in the communities they serve.

Every hospital in the network remains fully independent and locally governed. The network itself is governed by its member hospitals.

“Being an independent rural hospital means we have the ability to make decisions locally and remain deeply responsive to the people we serve,” said Lisa DeKezel, CEO of Ray County Hospital and Healthcare. “Joining the Show-Me High Value Network allows us to preserve that independence while gaining the strength of collaboration with other hospitals that share our commitment to high-quality, locally accessible care. For Ray County, this is about building a stronger, more sustainable healthcare system so our patients can continue to receive as much of their care as possible close to home.”

The foundation of the network is a clinically integrated network, which allows member hospitals to share what they learn, align on common measures of quality, and coordinate care for patients treated in more than one place. Together, the 23 member hospitals serve about 1.8 million Missourians.

Members will also work together on lowering the cost of equipment and contracted services by negotiating as a group. Participation in those collaborations is optional, and each hospital decides which to join.

Several member hospitals sit within a short drive of Richmond, including Carroll County Memorial Hospital in Carrollton, Cass Regional Medical Center in Harrisonville, and Western Missouri Medical Center in Warrensburg. Others stretch to Hannibal, West Plains, and Sikeston.

“Independent hospitals across Missouri face many of the same challenges — workforce shortages, rising costs, increasing complexity and the transition toward value-based care. We do not have to solve those challenges alone,” DeKezel said. “The Show-Me High Value Network gives us the opportunity to learn from one another, share resources and best practices, and create scale where it benefits our patients while still allowing each hospital to remain accountable to its own community. That combination of local independence and purposeful collaboration is incredibly important to the future of rural healthcare.”

“Ray County Hospital and Healthcare has served this community for generations, and protecting access to local healthcare is one of the Board’s most important responsibilities,” said Dale Vandiver, chair of the Ray County Hospital and Healthcare Board of Trustees. “The Show-Me High Value Network gives our hospital an opportunity to work alongside other independent Missouri hospitals to strengthen quality, affordability and long-term sustainability without giving up local governance. Decisions about Ray County Hospital and Healthcare will continue to be made here, by people who know and are accountable to this community.”

Ray County Hospital and Healthcare will join the network’s clinical committees, which include a clinical representative and a quality leader from each participating hospital. Those committees will develop shared quality measures and lead implementation of a clinical data-sharing platform.

The network describes its goals as improving care coordination, reducing administrative burden for providers, and strengthening members’ position in value-based care arrangements with insurers.

Joining the network does not change Ray County Hospital and Healthcare’s ownership, governance, or contracts with health insurers. Decisions about the care we provide will continue to be made locally, by Ray County Hospital and Healthcare.

About the Show-Me High Value Network

The Show-Me High Value Network is a collaboration of independent Missouri hospitals working together to strengthen local health care, improve quality and care coordination, support value-based care, and preserve the ability of member hospitals to remain independent and responsive to the communities they serve. More information is available at ShowMeHVN.org.

Show-Me High Value Network partners include Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, Mo.; Carroll County Memorial Hospital in Carrollton, Mo.; Cass Regional Medical Center in Harrisonville, Mo.; Cedar County Memorial Hospital in El Dorado Springs, Mo.; Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, Mo.; Community Hospital in Fairfax, Mo.; Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall, Mo.; Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare in Clinton, Mo.; Hannibal Regional Hospital in Hannibal, Mo.; Harrison County Community Hospital in Bethany, Mo.; Hermann Area District Hospital in Hermann, Mo.; Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo.; Nevada Regional Medical Center in Nevada, Mo.; Ozarks Healthcare in West Plains, Mo.; Pershing Health System in Brookfield, Mo.; Phelps Health in Rolla, Mo.; Pike County Memorial Hospital in Louisiana, Mo.; Salem Memorial District Hospital in Salem, Mo.; Samaritan Hospital in 

Macon, Mo.; Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo.; Washington County Memorial Hospital in Potosi, Mo.; and Western Missouri Medical Center in Warrensburg, Mo.

About Ray County Hospital and Healthcare

Ray County Hospital and Healthcare is a county-owned critical access hospital in Richmond, Missouri, serving Ray County and surrounding communities since 1956. Licensed for 25 acute care beds and governed by a board of trustees, the hospital provides 24/7 emergency care, inpatient and transitional care, laboratory and imaging services, therapy services, and an outpatient specialty clinic where visiting specialists see patients close to home.

###