Chesterfield, Missouri-based Mercy plans to build a 75-bed hospital in Wentzville, Missouri. This image is a rough rendering of the campus.
Chesterfield, Missouri-based Mercy plans to build a $650 million, 75-bed hospital and outpatient center in Wentzville, which is in Eastern Missouri. It would be the first new acute care hospital campus in the state since Mercy opened its Mercy Hospital Joplin in 2015.
Mercy has filed a letter of intent with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to build the Wentzville campus.
According to a press release, Mercy is building the 483,000-square-foot medical complex to address increasing demand for health care services amid "soaring population growth" in a three-county area that includes St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren Counties. The counties are west of St. Louis. The release says Mercy's focus on this region began around 2010 when it surveyed community members, including community leaders, to assess needs. The surveys revealed a need for increased health care access in the tri-county area.
In response, Mercy included in its master plan a strategy for growth in that region. The system has since expanded its presence there from three to nearly 40 locations, says the release. Those facilities have included a critical access hospital and a network of primary and specialty care clinics.
Projections show continued growth in the region — the tri-counties' population is expected to increase by nearly 10% to 500,000-plus residents by 2032, says the release.
Mercy plans to conduct roundtable discussions with community members to get their input into the development of the Wentzville facility.
Mercy plans to submit its certificate of need application in May and expects a decision from the committee in July. Mercy has not yet announced when it will break ground on the site.
Mercy has more than 50 acute and specialty hospitals in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma as well as a network of additional sites in those states plus Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.