FORT SCOTT — City, state, and county leaders gathered Thursday to celebrate the formal ribbon cutting of the Freeman Fort Scott Hospital, officially marking the return of local health care services to Bourbon County.
The ceremony follows the hospital’s initial reopening in September 2025, a move that restored emergency care and diagnostic services to the region. Freeman Health System CEO Matt Fry characterized the facility’s opening as a core component of the organization’s broader strategy for rural care.
"The opening of this hospital is a testament to what we stand for at Freeman Health System," Fry said. "We are mission driven and we are mission aligned. And this is a great example of how we show up for the communities that we serve".
Certification and Billing Breakthrough
A lengthy delay in certification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had been a significant hurdle for the facility. During a recent joint meeting of the Fort Scott and Bourbon County commissions, County Commissioner Gregg Motley said that because more than 70% of the hospital’s patients rely on Medicare or Medicaid, the facility had been “basically seeing patients for free” since its Sept. 7 opening.
In an interview with the Bourbon County Monitor, Freeman Fort Scott Chief Administrative Officer Anita Walden said the hospital has received the approvals needed for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
“We have received those approvals,” Walden said. “So we are fully certified with CMS, and we are able to bill for our services.”
Walden noted that the hospital is now navigating the complexities of retroactive billing for the care provided over the last several months.
"We are still working on that," Walden said. "Some of the entities are allowing us to backdate it to our certification date and there are others that are not. So we’re trying to work that out and negotiate that with all of the commercial payers".
Expansion and Specialist Review
With certification secured, administrators are evaluating which specialty services could be offered in Fort Scott to reduce the need for residents to travel outside the county for routine procedures.
"Right now we are in the process of doing a business review of what it would look like if we brought in specialty care," Walden said. "So that's in the early stages, but we’re evaluating what does the community need".
Walden said that the hospital is currently consulting with local doctors to prioritize future offerings.
"We've been reaching out to local physicians to find out what they have identified as the biggest need for specialty care," Walden said. "And then we will go from there to decide next steps".
Responding to community feedback regarding the need for local screenings, Walden acknowledged that residents are eager for more accessible options.
“We've heard that a lot from people that if we had the ability to do colonoscopies and minor procedures here, that would be a benefit," Walden said.
Local Employer Support and Long-Term Sustainability
The hospital has also seen early success in building relationships with the local business community. Walden reported "good buy-in" from employers, noting that the hospital recently hosted a luncheon for business leaders to discuss healthcare needs.
"We plan on building on that relationship right now," Walden said. "We're gathering data on what exactly would help their businesses the most, and then evaluating how we can help support that".
When asked how the Bourbon County community could best support the hospital, Walden pointed to local utilization of its services.
"It would be for them to utilize our services, whether they need to go to the emergency department, if their primary care physician feels that they need to be admitted to the hospital for medical care, we have the ability to do that here," Walden said. "We have the ability to take care of their outpatient x-rays, ultrasounds, lab work. So the best way that they can help us is by utilizing our services."
