At 7 p.m. on February 15, 2019, the I-70 Community Hospital Board of Directors informed the Missouri Hospital Authority that it will enter into a period of voluntary temporary suspension of services. The suspension was supposed to last no longer than 90 days, but the hospital remains closed to this day.
Sweet Springs Ambulance Board President Dennis Dohrman said the hospital was closed due to regulatory violations by its previous owner. According to Missourinet, the 15-bed hospital reportedly was connected to a company head who used hospitals in a lab-billing scheme.
Dohrman says the community and area showed great support as they came together for a meeting on Wednesday, November 13. He said about 160 people showed up, as the ambulance district is looking into purchasing the facility to reopen it and keep it as a hospital.
Dohrman says it is important to have a hospital that will offer emergency care in that area.

Dohrman continued…

Dohrman says the hospital will go on the auction block- along with six other hospitals previously owned by the same company- on December 19. But he says even to be a bidder, the entity must have a 10-percent deposit of the minimum bid for the property in Sweet Springs, and the judge has set the minimum bid that will be accepted at $3.4 million. Dohrman says “One thing’s for sure, the process of reopening one that has been closed is a lot harder than taking over one that’s already open.”