Monday was a red-letter day for Fort Scott

Critical to the success to reopening its hospital was the commitment by city and county officials to pledge more than $3 million to see it come to fruition.

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Editorials

February 1, 2022 - 10:10 AM

Noble Health Corp. announced it planned to convert the old Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott into what will become Noble Health Bourbon County Community Hospital. Photo by SARAH JANE TRIBBLE FOR KAISER HEALTH NEWS/KCUR.ORG

It’s a man-bites-dog news story. Fort Scott announced Monday that it will once again have a hospital.

The welcome news bucks a 20-year trend of shuttering rural hospitals. Since 2005, almost 200 rural communities in the United States — nine in Kansas — have lost their hospitals due to flagging profit margins.

Fort Scott’s Mercy Hospital closed in December 2018. 

Sweeping in to save the day is Noble Health Corp., a small Kansas City-based non-profit formed in 2019 that also owns hospitals in Fulton and Mexico, Mo. Like Fort Scott’s, the Missouri hospitals were operating beyond their means.

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