KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.
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St. Joseph Medical Center has served the south Kansas City community for 150 years, but a decades-old state regulation is preventing the hospital from achieving a Level III trauma center designation, a move hospital leaders believe could provide necessary care and save lives.
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The rule, dating back to 1989, hinges on mileage and proximity to other trauma centers, a factor St. Joe’s CEO and CMO consider outdated and detrimental to patient care.
"It feels like an unlevel playing field for our citizens," said Jodi Fincher, CEO of St. Joseph Medical Center. “The regulation stipulates that any hospital seeking a Level III trauma designation cannot be within 15 miles of a Level I or Level II trauma center in Missouri.”
St. Joseph's proximity to multiple large hospitals puts the hospital in direct conflict with this rule.
Fincher argued this 15-mile barrier diverts patients away from St. Joseph's, causing critical delays in treatment. She said St. Joseph's has not been provided or was aware of supporting documentation on why there’s a mileage designation or why it was enacted.
"We know that when patients who are appropriate Level III designated patients come to our hospital, we can get them in faster, they can be seen, treated and out the door before they would be seen in a high-level trauma center," she said.
SJMC currently has no trauma designation, but Fincher emphasized her staff already functions and acts as a Level III trauma center, possessing the necessary equipment and certifications, lacking only the official designation.
Level III patient trauma includes blunt trauma, falls, car crashes and assaults.
"The 15-mile rule has no rational basis. Other states don't have this rule," Fincher said. "It's not fair to our citizens, it's not fair to south Kansas City."
Missouri Rep. Mark Sharp, who’s focused on public safety, has introduced House Bill 948, which is aimed at eliminating the mileage restriction.
"Those minutes are critical," Sharp said.
He argued it is unacceptable "to go past a perfectly good hospital just because of some faulty legislation."
The bill was filed by a former legislator in 2019 but was never heard because the courthouse was shut down due to COVID-19.
Sharp brought it back in January 2025.
“It takes out the proximity piece. The rule may have made sense at a time, but it doesn’t make sense now,” he said. “It’s just a shame they have to pass by that hospital.”
Sharp said he’s focused on timely care for his constituents.
“When I think about public safety and response times and folks needing immediate care, it makes no sense to me for us to have a perfectly good hospital to meet all the requirements of a trauma III center to be passed by,” Sharp said. “This is important for south KC because there is no need for folks that need immediate care to be going past a hospital that has all the necessities.”
Fincher echoed the sentiment, saying, "We have the equipment and certifications and are a part of Missouri trauma registry of patients that come through SJMC."
Fincher, who has been battling the law for a few years, also filed suit against the state of Missouri in 2019. However, the Supreme Court of Missouri ruled against SJMC, citing possible delays.
“They said Level III trauma-designated hospitals would delay the care of patients by them not going immediately to a Level I or Level II, but we know that when patients who are appropriate Level III designated patients come to our hospital, we can get them in faster,” she said.
Fincher said the only path forward to change the rule is through legislation.
St. Joseph's leadership said this legislation could also help other Missouri hospitals like St. Mary’s in Blue Springs.