Hospitals

Anthem officials claim Mercy is asking the insurer to pay too much money to cover procedures. Mercy officials said Anthem is putting too many administrative barriers in its contract. If the two sides cannot reach an agreement by the end of the year, Anthem patients won't be able to receive in-network rates at Mercy locations.

Around 14% of all staff positions at hospitals were vacant in 2023, a rate that’s lower than it was at the height of the pandemic but still higher than in 2019.

With IT systems down, staff at Ascension have to use manual processes they left behind some 20 years ago. It's the latest in a string of attacks on health care systems that house private patient data.

Illinois law enforcement's burden of proof in concealed carry violations is also on the table.

The Chesterfield-based Catholic health system submitted a letter of intent to build the $650 million facility to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which regulates the construction of new hospitals. The proposed 75-bed hospital would be where Interstates 64 and 70 meet in Wentzville.

Illinois hospitals routinely skirt one of the nation’s strongest laws protecting victims of sexual assault — including Alton Memorial and Blessing Hospital in Quincy.

BJC Healthcare has formally closed the deal that merges the St. Louis-based company with Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, officials announced Monday. The $10 billion merger creates a system that comprises 28 hospitals across Kansas, Illinois and Missouri.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force is calling on older people and pregnant women in the region to get the newly approved RSV vaccine as hospitals fill up with people sick with respiratory illnesses.

While the coronavirus is circulating less widely than in previous years, an uptick in hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients and a number of employees getting sick with the virus, flu and other illnesses led BJC to put the mask requirement in place, system officials said.

BJC Healthcare has finalized plans to merge with St. Luke's, a Kansas City-based health system that operates 14 hospitals in Kansas and Missouri. The two systems expect to complete the $10 billion deal by Jan. 1.