BJC Health System

Two major Ozarks health systems shared a rhetorical rivalry this week. After Springfield-based CoxHealth announced a new partnership with St. Louis Children’s Hospital on Tuesday, Mercy Southwest Missouri Communities responded with a written statement that Cox officials later deemed “misleading.”

After a previously announced deal with Mercy Southwest Missouri fell apart back in March, CoxHealth on Tuesday announced a new pediatric partnership with St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Healthcare officials are calling it a “first step.”