Houston-based healthcare company, Nutex Health, Inc. recently announced it will soon reopen the former Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital renamed as “Archview ER and Hospital,” a “micro-hospital.” It will offer 24/7 emergency and inpatient services, diagnostic imaging, and clinical lab testing.
Nutex, a physician-owned, publicly traded health firm owns and operates more than 24 micro-hospitals, specialty hospitals, hospital outpatient departments and other facilities in 11 states. Archview will be its first micro-hospital in Missouri.
Karen Johnson, former Homer G. Phillips Hospital CEO, now serves as Archview’s chief nursing officer, leading the project. In a press statement, Johnson said: “Our goal is to provide exceptional emergency, and inpatient services close to home, delivered with compassion and efficiency.”
According to the hospital’s website, the new hospital will follow “the micro-hospital model, which emphasizes accessibility, efficiency and personalized care.”
Landowner and developer Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration’s $20 million,15-bed urgent care facility officially opened in January 2024 but, just 11 months later, surrendered its state licenses and closed, terminating more than 80 employees.
St. Louis real estate records indicate the same company that owned the hospital when it closed, HGP Management LLC, still owns licenses for the facility, which was affiliated with McKee through former Franklin County Counselor Mark Vincent and other partners, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The state is working with the hospital for it to receive its license, said Missouri Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) spokeswoman, Lisa Cox. If the hospital begins seeing patients before mid-December, it will not need to file for a new certificate of need, a state document that shows there’s demand for services in a certain area, Cox said.
Homer G. Phillips Hospital, controversially named after the former hospital that served St. Louis’ Black population and trained Black doctors for decades until it closed in 1979. The decision to name it after Homer G. Phillips Hospital angered many Black residents. Some felt McKee was capitalizing on the legacy of a legendary civil rights attorney and equally famous hospital. By 2020, many had already soured on the developer, who had spent two decades acquiring hundreds of acres north of downtown, only to leave much of it vacant and crumbling — visible contributors to urban decay.
Why did they change the name?
I was surprised and deeply disappointed to learn of the opening of Archview ER and Hospital in North St. Louis and to further discover that this facility will not accept Medicaid, Medicare, or Tricare. According to their own website, individuals with these insurance plans will instead be offered cash pay rates, a policy that raises serious concerns about equity and access.
North St. Louis is one of the most historically underserved communities in our region. Many residents rely on Medicaid or Medicare, and a significant portion have no insurance at all. For a healthcare organization to open its doors in this neighborhood while explicitly declining to accept the insurance types most commonly used by the community feels misaligned with the needs of the people it claims to serve.
This is not the kind of healthcare investment North St. Louis needs. We do not need a for-profit emergency room and hospital offering boutique-level access to those with private insurance while leaving behind the very residents who have long struggled with limited access to care. What our community needs, and deserves, is accessible, affordable, and equitable healthcare anchored in service, not profit.
As a healthcare provider who sees firsthand the consequences of delayed or inaccessible care, I am concerned that Archview’s model will only further widen an already dangerous gap. North St. Louis deserves better.