CoxHealth to build $42M hospital in Monett

CoxHealth yesterday announced plans to build a $42 million hospital in Monett.

The planned 70,000-square-foot hospital along Highway 60 in east Monett would replace the company’s existing health care facility in the city at 801 Lincoln Ave., officials said at a news conference.

“This project is part of CoxHealth’s strategic efforts to ensure that populations in rural areas have access to the health care they need,” Cox Monett Hospital President Darren Bass said at the news conference that was streamed by CoxHealth via Facebook.

CoxHealth spokeswoman Kaitlyn McConnell said the health care system is targeting a spring 2019 groundbreaking, and officials expect the project to take two years to finish. She said Indianapolis-based BSA LifeStructures is the project architect and a general contractor has not yet been selected. The current Monett hospital’s size is around 90,000 square feet, McConnell said, noting the new facility would make more efficient use of its space.

The hospital is designed with an updated emergency department, operating rooms, an attached office building for physician clinics, 40 exam rooms and a cardiac rehabilitation center. CoxHealth’s website lists eight rural health clinics affiliated with Cox Monett Hospital.

Cox Monett Hospital opened as St. Vincent Hospital in 1953 and joined the Springfield-based CoxHealth system in 1993. It’s one of two critical-access hospitals — meaning it’s available for rural residents in time-sensitive situations — along with Cox Barton County Hospital in Lamar, according to a news release.

“We’re one of the very few hospitals in the nation investing in a new hospital in rural America,” CoxHealth President and CEO Steve Edwards said at the news conference. “A hospital cannot survive without its community. I believe we make each other stronger.”