With a shared commitment for improving rural access to health care Northeast Regional Medical Center, Moberly Regional Medical Center and University of Missouri Health Care (MU Health Care) have formed a strategic relationship designed to increase access to specialty services and enhance health care for people living in northeastern Missouri.

The relationship will bring MU Health Care physicians and specialty services to Kirksville and Moberly, expanding medical services the hospitals can offer locally, while connecting patients who may need it to higher level care in Columbia.

“We're excited about what this means for northeast Missourians – a sustainable rural health care model that ensures local access to quality health care,” said Charles Cova, President, Region 2 Operations, Community Health Systems. “Moberly and Kirksville residents will have all the advantages that come with partnering with a premier academic health system that offers leading edge medical care as well as a shared promise that we will deliver – better healthcare for every patient.”

The alignment builds upon an existing relationship between the two health systems in which MU Health Care physicians staff the Emergency Department at MRMC and provide tele-neonatology consultations to Northeast Missouri Health Council OB/GYN physicians caring for newborns at NRMC, allowing more families to receive the care they need, close to home.

Under the relationship agreement, the health systems are identifying more ways to collaborate, support and grow services throughout the region with a focus on women’s services, cardiology, orthopedics and critical care, and providing Graduate Medical Education rotations to train the next generation of physicians.

“This strategic relationship aligns with our commitment to expand access to health care in Missouri’s rural communities and affirms our mission to save and improve lives,” said Nim Chinniah, vice chancellor for Health Affairs, MU Health Care. “Not only will this improve care for northeast Missourians where they live, but we will be able to better connect them with more than 600 MU Health Care doctors in more than 80 specialties working together to ensure they receive the highest quality care possible.”