Missouri Governor Mike Parson has signed the 2025 state budget, which includes a $15 million appropriation for Hannibal Regional to establish a new cancer center in Kirksville.

Hannibal Regional identified the need for these services after acquiring the Complete Family Medicine clinics in the Kirksville/Highway 63 area. Since 2022, Kirksville has lacked critical radiation oncology services, placing a significant burden on local cancer patients, who have been forced to travel nearly 200 miles daily for treatment.

Hannibal Regional's Cary Cancer Center in Hannibal has been offering radiation oncology services since 2003, and the new cancer center in Kirksville will replicate the model.

While the state funding is crucial, Hannibal Regional must also navigate the Certificate of Need process to secure approval for major medical equipment exceeding $1 million, including a linear accelerator and vault. Northeast Regional Medical Center, which discontinued radiation oncology services in 2022, has announced plans to potentially purchase new equipment and resume offering these services. The state's Certificate of Need process will ultimately decide which entity will be authorized to meet this critical healthcare need in Kirksville.

Mercy announced plans in April to construct a $650 million hospital in Wentzville, Missouri in an attempt to address the increasing number of residents in the state’s tri-county area. The health system filed a "letter of intent" with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for the prospective 75-bed, 483,000-square-foot medical facility. Construction is expected to take about four years and once completed, it will be the state’s first new acute-care hospital campus built since 2015.

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