Rural Missouri health care isn’t just a crisis story. It’s also a comeback story

By: Mona Brownfield, Simon McKeown

Outlets: Missouri Independent

Published: February 21, 2026

Words: 507

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 5 days ago

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As physicians who are proud citizens of our rural communities, we have the privilege of caring for friends, neighbors and multiple generations.

But the satisfaction of providing care to our communities turned to frustration when our hospitals in Boonville and Mexico abruptly shut down in 2020 and 2022 respectively, leaving the health care of our fellow citizens in limbo.

Our hospitals were two of 21 in Missouri that closed over the past …

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