The Saint Luke’s Health System is planning to merge with Barnes Jewish Christian Health Care of Saint Louis soon. A media release from St. Luke’s says the merger is expected to be completed January 1st. How does this effect Garnett and Anderson County? Saint Luke’s operates Anderson County’s county-owned hospital on a 10-year lease agreement, a several-decade relationship, the most recent of which began when the newly constructed Garnett facility opened in 2015. Though it’s not immediately known what impact the merger will have on Anderson County Hospital, the move is part of a general gameplan among mid-sized healthcare organizations that “bigger is better”.
Saint Luke’s is a combined system of approximately $10 billion in revenue with 28 hospitals and hundreds of clinics and service centers in the communities they serve across Missouri, southern Illinois and eastern Kansas, including Anderson County Hospital in Garnett.
