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St. Louis County health director says council’s inaction could put care at county clinic at risk 53%
By Sarah Fentem57%
4/20/2026, 10:41:09 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Loss Aversion, and Pessimism Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 28.6% saturation with 236 hits. Analysis detected 1,540 faulty-reasoning hits from 824 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 51.9% and a BS Rank of 53% (10,316 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 52.90% of the article peer group.
The St.
Louis County health director says the county council is slow-rolling a measure to allow its government-run health clinics to hire physicians.
In a bill introduced nine months ago, the department asked the council to approve a three-year, $3.6 million contract that would authorize it to hire doctors from SSM Health to work at county-operated health clinics.
The county operates two health centers in north St.
Louis County and one in south county.
Kanika Cunningham, the director of public health, said the contract primarily puts staffing at the clinic in Sunset Hills at risk.
“To remove the department's ability to provide a physician to maintain care, it is a problem for me, and it's a problem for the community, and it should be a problem for the patients who utilize our services,” she said.
Cunningham said the money would also pay for SSM Health physicians to work at the department’s other clinics.
In an email, Chairwoman Rita Heard Days said she and other council members were concerned about potential entanglements between SSM and county officials.
“It is not a funding issue but a potential conflict of interest issue,” she wrote.
“The Council’s questions have not been answered either by Dr.
Cunningham or the County Executive.
We are aware of the issue at hand, however our questions related to the conflicts should be addressed first.”
The council has for years raised concerns about whether County Executive Sam Page, an anesthesiologist, violated county rules through his affiliation with SSM Health.
Representatives for Page and SSM have said in the past his work is done as a volunteer.
Days said she is also worried about Cunningham’s potential connections to SSM.
“In my opinion, we should be extremely careful regarding the perception of conflicts,” she wrote.
Councilman Dennis Hancock of District 3 said he still was concerned.
“Even though he hasn’t admitted he works at SSM, he volunteers at SSM,” he said.
“The question is why would we be looking to go into a multi-million dollar contract [with the system]”?
Hancock said although the council has met with the health department about the bill, conversations were not productive.
He wants more information about why the staffing is necessary, when the county already employs several doctors.
Days said she is worried also about Cunningham’s potential connections to SSM.
County spokeswoman Sara Dayley said Cunningham is not employed by SSM.
If the council doesn’t act before the current contract expires this summer, the clinic could lose “existing services” and patients could lose access to their doctors, officials said.
In letters and flyers that emphasize the clinics mainly serve Medicare, underinsured and uninsured patients, the health department has urged residents to ask their council members to approve the contract.
If the bill isn’t approved, hundreds of patients could be forced to find a new provider, appointments will be canceled, and treatments will be delayed, a flyer from the health department reads.
The county’s community health centers offer primary care, STD testing, immunizations and other services to residents regardless of their ability to pay.
The federal government recently granted a special designation that allows them to receive higher reimbursement rates for services and better deals on prescriptions, among other benefits.
Tensions over clinic funding
Tension between the executive branch and the county council has run high in the wake of a contentious budget battle earlier this year.
The county faced an approximately $80 million shortfall going into 2026, and the council floated cutting certain services, including care at the three health clinics.
It’s rare in Missouri for public health departments to operate their own clinics.
Running the health clinics “is going to be a tough sell, if we take a hard look at these things,” said Councilman Dennis Hancock, R-Fenton, during budget discussions last year.
“It’s going to be a much easier conversation to have than explaining why we went bankrupt.”
Democratic Councilwoman Shalonda Webb said continued operation of the clinics warrants review.
After all, the county used to operate a hospital, which closed in 1986.
“If we can no longer sustain and provide clinical services and primary care services, how do we begin to talk about transitioning?”
she asked.
Page had wanted to use funds from the Rams settlement to shore up the cratering budget.
The council disagreed and passed a budget that cut the county executive’s requested spending by nearly $50 million.
The health clinics remained open.
Still, Cunningham said it’s possible council members are effectively trying to close the clinics.
“They did not put me in a position to close” after passing the budget, she said, “but if they continue down this trend of not approving professional service contracts, that could essentially force me to close clinics and force people to have to seek care elsewhere.”
This story has been updated with comments from Councilman Dennis Hancock and County spokeswoman Sara Dayley.
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