Mercy’s local employee count drops 6%

Last edited 3:34 p.m., Aug. 12, 2019

Mercy Springfield Communities’ local employee count fell by roughly 6.4% during the past year, according to Springfield Business Journal list research.

The health care system ranked No. 2 on SBJ’s 2019 list of the area’s largest employers — down from its first-place spot in 2018 — with 10,123 employees in a 50-mile radius of Springfield. Mercy reported 10,813 employees in 2018.

In an email, Mercy spokeswoman Sonya Kullmann pointed to a deal struck last summer when Integrity Home Care Inc. agreed to take over Mercy Home Health & Hospice’s operations — and employees — in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. Mercy also recently announced an undisclosed number of layoffs that affected Springfield-area employees.

Integrity Home Care ranked No. 19 on SBJ’s largest employers list this year. The company’s employee count rose to 740 locally from 562 in 2018. An Integrity employee did not return a call by deadline on how many employees joined the company as part of the Mercy Home Health & Hospice deal.

Kullman could not be reached for further comment by deadline. Emails and texts returned messages indicating she’s out of the office until July 22.

CoxHealth is No. 1 on SBJ’s list, which appears in the July 22 print edition. The company reported 11,754 local employees. Rounding out the top five are No. 3 Bass Pro Shops, with 6,000 local employees; No. 4 Springfield Public Schools, at 4,030; and No. 5 Missouri State University, at 3,526.