Arthur Center Community Health will represent Audrain, Montgomery and Callaway counties in a statewide effort to increase collaboration and accessibility in rural health care as the leader of Hub 19.

Hub anchors across the state, including the Arthur Center, will assist in implementing partnerships among hospitals, primary care and behavioral health clinics and community-based organizations offering social services through Missouri’s Transformation of Rural Community Health Care model.

“It’s an interesting model because sometimes people might see these different entities as competitors, yet the hub model, designed as a product of the ToRCH Care model, brings those same entities together to collaborate and identify what priorities are needed in the community,” Arthur Center CEO Brock Lough said. “It’s going to have some really positive health outcomes for our rural people.”

The approach marks a significant investment in rural health care under House Resolution 1, often called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Rural Health Transformation funds awarded this year range from $147 million to $281 million with Missouri receiving the ninth-highest funding in the country at $216 million.

Lough said that the Arthur Center had been trying to figure out how H.R.1 would affect health care at the local level since its development, and after learning how much funding Missouri would receive, the organization set its sights on becoming part of the effort.

“We were really excited to see that Montgomery, Callaway and Audrain were clustered together because that’s a large part of our catchment area — a very significant part too where we have brick and mortar facilities in all those counties,” Lough said. “It was a great match for us to be the leader of health and social services in that area.”

As a hub, the Arthur Center will largely be responsible for facilitating communication among healthcare providers and local organizations such as schools, EMS, health departments, nonprofits and local governments to solve rural healthcare challenges.

“We didn’t apply because this was something new,” Arthur Center Director of Communications Kerri Ferrari said. “We applied because we’re already doing this work.”

The Missouri Department of Social Services selected 27 healthcare organizations from 41 applications. Each hub will design a board of key stakeholders around the community who will then, in turn, help identify priorities.

Hub 19’s board of directors will be composed of Craig Brace, CEO and administrator of the Audrain County Health Department; Josh Loyd, administrator of the Audrain Ambulance District; Brendan Webber, owner of Webber Family of Pharmacies; Alexander Finck, physician at Cornerstone Family Medicine; Mary Rohrbach, family development specialist at Central Missouri Community Action; and Lough.

The ToRCH Care model and the Arthur Center’s position as a hub anchor will not replace the need for a hospital in Audrain County.

“We have great hospital partners,” Lough said. “We have a great partnership with Boone Health, and them trying to bring a critical access hospital here to Mexico is something that we’re really invested in.”

Lough added that Boone Health CEO Brady Dubois wrote a letter of support for the Arthur Center’s application and said a hospital, the Arthur Center, and other community partners within the local hub each serve different but connected roles.

“Hub 19 gives us an opportunity to work together so patients experience one coordinated rural health care system rather than separate organizations,” Ferrari said.

This recognition isn’t about the Arthur Center receiving an award — it’s about Audrain, Montgomery and Callaway counties receiving an opportunity to change the scope of rural healthcare.

“We are honored to help lead this work, but the success of Hub 19 will be measured by what we accomplish together with our partners and, most importantly, by improved health outcomes for the people who call Audrain, Montgomery, and Callaway counties home,” Ferrari said.