Hospital Headlines

Boone Health Nationally Recognized for Its Commitment to Quality Care for Heart Attacks In Mid-Missouri

Boone Health has received multiple quality achievement awards from the American Heart Association (AHA) recognizing its commitment to high standards of patient care for stroke, NSTEMI and STEMI heart attacks.

The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award recognizes our commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, leading to more lives saved and reduced disability.

Program participants qualify annually for the award by demonstrating how their organization provides quality care for stroke patients, follows treatment guidelines, and educates patients to help them manage their health and recovery at home.

The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Coronary Artery Disease NSTEMI Gold award recognizes Boone Health for its commitment to offering rapid, research-based care to people experiencing a specific type of heart attack known as a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction, or NSTEMI.

Each year, more than 546,000 people in the U.S. experience this type of dangerous heart attack, caused by a partial blockage of blood flow to the heart. Like all heart attacks, this requires timely treatment to restore blood flow as quickly as possible.

Boone Health also received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Coronary Artery Disease STEMI Silver recognition for its commitment to offering rapid, research-based care to people experiencing an ST elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI, a type of heart attack known to be more severe and dangerous than other types of heart attacks. This type of heart attack requires immediate treatment.

Each year, more that 250,000 people in the U.S. experience a STEMI heart attack, which is considered a severe heart attack because it is caused by a total blockage of blood flow to the heart.

These designations are given to hospitals that demonstrate a commitment to treating patients following the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines for Stroke, NSTEMI and STEMI care as outlined by the American Heart Association.

The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines programs help hospitals across the nation ensure their standards for patient care are consistently aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines for better patient outcomes.

Boone Health Increasing Primary Care Capacity To Address Dire Need

The award-winning organization has hired 8 new doctors, each of which can see 1,800 patients, with more coming by the end of 2025.

Throughout the country, health care continues to experience shortages of providers in key areas, especially primary care. Here in mid-Missouri, Boone Health has been diligently working to address those shortages. Over the past 12 months, Boone Health has hired 25 medical providers, eight of whom are primary care providers while the others are offering health care in key areas, including general surgery, endocrinology and metabolism, gynecologic oncology, radiology, rheumatology and palliative care.

“Across the nation, there has been a strong need for primary care providers, and the mid-Missouri community is no different,” said Drew Wilkinson, Boone Health vice president of provider and ambulatory operations. “We’ve been working hard to address the issue here locally, and we’ve attracted several wonderful and experienced providers to join the best health care organization in mid-Missouri. We have more work to do, but we expect that these new providers will help us address the need for health care in both Columbia and many of our rural areas in the 26 counties that we serve.”

Each new provider can accept approximately 1,800 new patients. Individuals wanting to establish primary care with a Boone Health provider can call 573.815.3000 or visit boone.health/services/primary-care

Additionally, Boone Health is expecting at least four more primary care providers to join the organization by the end of 2025.

“My fiancé and I were looking for that next chapter in our lives and a community to call our own,” said Dr. Louis Gerges, a physician who recently joined the Boone Health Nifong Primary Care Clinic. “When care is rooted in community it becomes more than practicing medicine—it becomes belonging. I feel as though we found that community in Boone Health.”

Recently ranked as the No. 1 hospital in mid-Missouri and in the top 100 hospitals for overall service in the nation and for patient experience, over the past several months, Boone Health has announced several expansion efforts, including a standalone breast care clinic that also offers the only prosthetic bra shop in mid-Missouri, an expansion of the primary care clinic in Glasgow, and expanded hours at the Boone Health Convenient Care clinic.

“We’ve been growing, and we have plans to continue the expansion and improvement of health care in mid-Missouri,” Boone Health CEO and President Brady Dubois said. “Yet, even with all of our plans for expansion, we will never let go of the caring environment that we’ve built for more than 100 years. That focus on each, individual patient is what makes Boone Health stand out, whether you’ve come in for an annual physical or you’re at the hospital for a procedure. Every nurse, every doctor, every therapist, every employee is going to ensure that the focus remains on you, the patient, and that we get you back doing what you love as fast as possible.”

Boone CT Accredited for Cardiac Imaging

The Computed Tomography (CT) scanners at Boone Hospital received renewal from the American College of Radiology (ACR) for Head, Neck, Chest and Abdomen imaging. In addition, this is the first year that Boone Health CT has been Accredited for Cardiac Imaging in CT. Towards the end of summer, construction began for the placement of an additional CT scanner at the hospital. The new scanner is a dual-source, 256-splice Siemens Drive. Boone Hospital now has four CT scanners, with three located at the hospital and one located at the Nifong medical building.

Dr. Sara Crowder’s 3,000th Surgery

Sara Crowder, MD hit a milestone when she performed her 3,000th surgery using the da Vinci robot machine. This places her in the top 5% of surgeons in the United States, and No. 1 in the state of Missouri, as it relates to experience with the surgical robotic machine. Dr. Crowder specializes in gynecological oncology and has been using the surgical robot since 2011. The da Vinci robot machine, with cutting edge technology only available here at Boone Health, allows Dr. Crowder to use minimally invasive techniques for many of her patients.

Boone Health Named No. 1 Hospital in Mid-Missouri by U.S. News

U.S. News & World Report released its hospital rankings, naming Boone Health as the No. 1 hospital in Mid-Missouri and the No. 7 hospital in the state. In the past 12 months, five independent organizations have given top marks to Boone Health, emphasizing patient care, quality of care delivered, employee environment and culture, and nursing quality. And Forbes recently announced that Boone Health is the No. 1 employer in mid-Missouri.

“Once again, Boone Health has been independently verified as the best hospital and overall health organization in mid-Missouri,” said Brady Dubois, president and CEO of Boone Health. “We continue to give the nation’s very best care in mid-Missouri’s own backyard due to our dedication to excellence throughout our organization, from when you first check-in to when you are discharged. Boone Health is fortunate to have an incredibly talented and compassionate medical staff and care team who focus on each individual patient, and we are always looking for ways to improve above and beyond the stellar care that Boone Health is known for throughout the region.”

For 2025-2026, Boone Health is ranked “High Performing” in 14 out of 22 categories. This is an increase from last year where Boone Health was ranked “High Performing” in 9 out of 21 categories. Those high performing areas are: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair; aortic valve surgery; colon cancer surgery; heart attack; heart bypass surgery; hip replacement; knee replacement; back surgery (spinal fusions); heart arrhythmia; hip fracture; leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma; pacemaker implantation; pneumonia; and prostate cancer surgery.