The seventh-largest employer in Columbia/Boone County will be acquired by Tennessee-based Ardent Health.
Ardent and Boone Health officials made Thursday’s announcement at Boone Hospital Center. Ardent Health chief medical officer F.J. Campbell says all Boone needs is more resources:
“Boone is an exceptional community, an exceptional health care system. And I want that to continue … period,” he says.
Ardent has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Boone Health for $47-million in cash. Mr. Campbell tells 939 the Eagle that there’s so much that Boone has been able to accomplish clinically and that he’s not looking to change that. He says Ardent is looking to grow on a profound amount of success that these clinicians have brought forward and put them with the resources to do that.
Boone Health has 1,400 employees in Columbia/Boone County, according to the latest statistics from Columbia Regional Economic Development Incorporated (REDI).
Ardent’s Campbell says this is an exceptional opportunity for Boone, Ardent and the community to improve the health care in the Columbia area with more resources. Ardent says it has committed to $200-million in capital improvements over ten years. Boone Health chief executive officer Brady Dubois tells 939 the Eagle that Boone has known for years that their most pressing need is to expand their emergency room:
“We’ve had plans for four years … what do we need to do, how do we make this happen. And we haven’t had the resources to affect that,” President Dubois says.
That money will also be used for operating room modernization and physician recruitment.
Ardent is also committing to retaining ALL active Boone Health employees, physicians and advanced practice providers in good standing. Boone County commissioners voted Thursday to approve the sale, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.