Kansas City’s history is full of innovation and collaboration, earning recognition for the ways we work together as “One KC.”

Recently, area leaders have embraced the potential of bringing together the brightest minds and best ideas on both sides of the state line to enhance the health of people across our region.

For 125 years, St. Luke’s Hospital has been committed to the health of our region. And for 87 of those years, we’ve been dedicated to educating the next generation of physicians. As a leading academic medical center, we’ve helped train hundreds of physicians through our strong partnership with the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.

St. Luke’s always has believed local collaboration with others who share a vision to achieve the highest quality health care is the best approach for expanding medical research and patient care. In recent years, St. Luke’s twice approached KU Hospital about partnering for cancer care with no mutual interest emerging.

St. Luke’s also has held discussions with out-of-town potential partners, including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, M.D. Anderson (at the University of Texas) and Washington University in St. Louis.

Because of the area Life Science Steering Committee’s work and at their request, St. Luke’s in 2006 agreed to put its out-of-town discussions on hold until local collaborations could be revisited.

This committee’s leadership resulted in St. Luke’s Hospital signing a Research and Education Affiliation Letter of Intent with the Kansas University Medical Center on Feb. 1, 2007.

Subsequent discussions between KUMC and KU Hospital, and the reporting of such discussions, compel me to spell out some additional facts about St. Luke’s Hospital and our commitment to Kansas City.

¢ St. Luke’s Hospital is part of the Kansas not-for-profit corporation St. Luke’s Health System, an integrated health care network consisting of 11 Kansas and Missouri hospitals and multiple physician offices.

¢ St. Luke’s operates or is a partner in five Kansas hospitals, and we employ more than 2,700 Kansas residents. One third of our employees live and vote in Kansas.

¢ St. Luke’s paid more than $2.4 million in Kansas employment taxes in 2006.

¢ 818 – nearly 70 percent – of the doctors who care for St. Luke’s patients live and vote in Kansas.

¢ One-third of the patients we cared for in 2006 live in Kansas.

¢ St. Luke’s owns or is a joint venture partner in more than $65 million of property in Kansas.

Beyond caring for patients in two states and our reputation as an academic medical center, St. Luke’s doctors and staff lead the programs and services that help earn Kansas City its outstanding reputation for health care.

¢ St. Luke’s Hospital is the region’s best and most preferred hospital based on independent research performed by National Research Corp. (NRC). St. Luke’s Hospital has won NRC’s Consumer Choice Award every year NRC has presented it since 1996.

¢ St. Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute is the region’s premier heart center, providing the region’s only heart transplant program. In 2006, we were among the nation’s top five heart transplant centers.

¢ St. Luke’s Hospital regularly participates in new treatment and medication research. Our doctors and staff are at the forefront of clinical innovation.

¢ St. Luke’s Hospital publishes more research annually than any other hospital or medical provider in the region.

¢ St. Luke’s Health System received the 2006 Missouri Quality Award.

¢ In 2003, St. Luke’s South received the Kansas Award for Excellence, the highest honor for quality performance in the state.

¢ St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City received the 2003 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

¢ On Jan. 25, 2007, President Bush hosted a health care roundtable at St. Luke’s East-Lee’s Summit. The White House selected the hospital because of its leading-edge technology for patient care.

St. Luke’s Hospital has been synonymous with quality for generations. We will continue as a strong locally owned and operated, spiritually based organization far into the future, with or without an affiliation with KU.

The agreement deadline of March 31 is coming soon. It is clearly time for our organizations to commit to collaborative terms or move on. One local partnership won’t dramatically change St. Luke’s, but one local partnership might unite Kansas and Missouri in amazing ways for the benefit of Kansas City and the life sciences. After March 31, St. Luke’s must look to the future and move on.