filed a lawsuit accusing Missouri Heart<\/a> of disclosing or misusing confidential information, including billing rates, reimbursement data, and strategic business details during its transition to new partnerships with outside organizations.<\/p>\nBoone Health alleges it entered into a professional services agreement with Missouri Heart in 2016, which included a conflict of interest and confidentiality provision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In January 2021, the two sides updated the agreement, saying Boone Health agreed to provide space and financial resources to Missouri Heart, while also giving them exclusive rights to staff Boone Health\u2019s in-patient services and out-patient cardiology clinics. However, under the agreement, Boone Health owns all patient, business and financial records.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In November 2025, Boone Health alleges that Missouri Heart sent a letter asking to terminate the agreement without cause. Boone Health claims after receiving the letter, it requested to extend the termination date and asked to meet with Missouri Heart to discuss a transition plan, a request that Missouri Heart did not respond to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Jan. 27, Boone Health says it was sent a proposal from Missouri Heart\u2019s legal counsel for a \u201cFourteenth Amendment\u201d to the agreement, which stated that if Heart & Vascular Partners LLC or its affiliates acquire part or all of Missouri Heart\u2019s ownership or assets, it would not count as a \u201cChange of Control\u201d under the agreement. However, the amendment clarifies that this acquisition wouldn\u2019t release Missouri Heart from any of its existing obligations under the original contract.<\/p>\n
Boone Health declined to sign, claiming that it questioned whether it\u2019s confidentiality agreements with Missouri Heart had been shared with Heart & Vascular Partners, because \u201cit seems unlikely HVP would consent to be added to an agreement they have not seen and nor have information of its value.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In February, Boone Health then claims it requested information from Missouri Heart that was necessary for the transition, which included a list of patients and access to its data, a request that Missouri Heart ignored.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve asked for multiple meetings,\u00a0 we’ve asked for multiple data.\u00a0 They have absolutely refused to give it to us\u00a0 or they have not replied at all.\u00a0 They even instructed their I.T. director not to talk with us,” Boone Health spokesperson Christian Basi said during a press conference on Monday. <\/p>\n
On March 9, Boone Health says it met with Missouri Heart representatives to discuss its demands. After the meeting, Boone Health said it was apparent they needed to begin to build their own cardiology department to ensure continuity of care for patients after May 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On March 16, Missouri Heart sent a letter to Boone Health indicating it was planning to enter an agreement with a private equity firm to continue practicing in Columbia, something Boone Health believed was a violation of their agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A day later, Boone Health alleged it asked Missouri Heart to reconsider and offered a new agreement to allow the group to continue practicing in Columbia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to court documents, a renewed agreement was signed in 2021 covering professional services and management of Boone Health\u2019s cardiology operations, but it says Missouri Heart did not respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On May 20, Boone Health said it received a \u201ccease and desist letter\u201d from Missouri Heart\u2019s lawyers that stated it intended to enforce internal three-year, non-compete agreements with any Missouri Heart physicians who stay with Boone Health and threatened Boone Health with \u201clegal liability\u201d for \u201ctortious interference with Missouri Heart contractual agreements.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seven days later, Boone Health filed a lawsuit claiming that Missouri Heart violated its agreements by preparing to launch a competing cardiology practice in Columbia. The lawsuit also argues the planned venture would violate the noncompete\u2019s geographic and time restrictions under Missouri law.<\/p>\n
Dr. James T. Elliott of MO Heart disagreed with allegations in the lawsuit through a written statement<\/a> sent to ABC 17 News on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n“For months, we have tried to meet with the leadership team at Boone Health to work constructively towards a new, collaborative arrangement that would preserve access to and expand high\u2011quality care for our patients and for the entire community. Unfortunately, Boone refused to engage with us in any meaningful way. Instead, we have been met with a series of escalating legal threats, culminating in today\u2019s filing,” the statement reads.<\/p>\n
“We disagree with the lawsuit\u2019s allegations and believe those claims are both legally and factually incorrect. This litigation does not change our commitment to caring for patients.”<\/p>\n
Boone Health denied these claims, writing in a statement:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cContrary to Missouri Heart\u2019s posts on social media and statement to KMIZ, they made the decision to terminate the PSA and MSA and end their contractual relationship with Boone Health. In their letter, Missouri Heart said it was terminating the agreements \u201cwithout cause\u201d. The date Missouri Heart provided is May 6, 2026. They set this date.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
ABC 17 News reached out to Missouri Heart for additional comment on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) After filing a lawsuit on Friday against the Missouri Heart Center, Boone Health announced on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-555381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}