CoxHealth has been awarded a spot on the Fortune list of America’s Most Innovative Companies 2025. This prestigious award is presented by Fortune and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

“From enhancing our services by adding the latest in health care technology to pursuing collaborations to advance pediatric care for southwest Missouri, CoxHealth is always eager to push beyond our comfort zone to serve our community,” says Max Buetow, CoxHealth President and CEO. “We have worked hard to reinforce an innovative mindset across our organization, and we are glad to see those efforts recognized on the America’s Most Innovative Companies list.”

In recent years, CoxHealth has introduced a variety of innovative initiatives to enhance patient care and employee retention, such as:

Groundbreaking collaboration to expand pediatric care – CoxHealth recently announced a formal agreement with St. Louis Children’s Hospital to expand pediatric care in southwest Missouri. CoxHealth and St. Louis Children’s Hospital – with the support and expertise of pediatric specialists at Washington University School of Medicine – will work collaboratively to bring more advanced care to children and families in Springfield and the surrounding region, reducing the need for families to travel long distances for specialty care.

Initial efforts will create a new pediatric hospital within the walls of CoxHealth, which will allow for close collaboration with WashU Medicine clinicians and St. Louis Children’s Hospital caregivers, as well as the construction of a comprehensive outpatient center that will include ambulatory surgery, pediatric specialty care clinics, imaging, laboratory services, and infusion.

Virtual Care Team – An effort to transform care delivery with an innovative virtual nursing model that enhances patient safety and provides meaningful support to bedside nurses.

The project has brought virtual care into the medical-surgical environment and has helped recruit and retain the highest caliber nurses at CoxHealth. Experienced nurses can supplement their conventional bedside shifts with telehealth and continue to provide excellent patient care in a hybrid model.

The Alliance for Healthcare Education – A collaboration between CoxHealth, Missouri State University, Ozarks Tech and Springfield Public Schools to seamlessly guide students through health care pathways and into the workforce. The Alliance is an unprecedented approach that will develop the talent to meet – and exceed – our region’s health care workforce needs for decades to come.

The partnering institutions recognize that by working together, they can achieve more than any one of them alone. Together, The Alliance aims to become the largest producer of health sciences professionals in the Midwest, creating clear, rewarding career pathways for students and professionals.

Innovation Accelerator – A brainstorming and ideation event in which CoxHealth employees deliver “Shark Tank”-style presentations in front of key health system leaders at the efactory.

This year was the 10th year of the Innovation Accelerator – a powerful reminder of CoxHealth’s history of cultivating an innovative mindset.

“We have been on the journey of innovation for a decade, and it has permeated all levels of our organization,” says Scott Rogers, CoxHealth’s administrative director of strategy and innovation.

Rogers says the Innovation Accelerator projects have helped colleagues become comfortable with change, and open-minded to new approaches.

“We reinforced the mindset and the courage required to try new ideas, put them to the test and pivot to try again if an idea doesn’t work.”

At the same time, many of the organization’s top leaders have seen their careers evolve alongside the innovation focus of the last several years.

“So many of our executive leaders have grown up with innovation,” Rogers says. “Now, they are translating that mindset at the executive level with projects like The Alliance for Healthcare Education and our pediatric partnership with St. Louis Children’s Hospital.”

The Fortune and Statista award comes on the heels of CoxHealth being recognized as one of “America’s Greatest Workplaces” and “America’s Greatest Workplaces in Health Care” by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group.

Fortune and Statista selected America’s Most Innovative Companies 2025 based on product innovation, process innovation and innovation culture. For the evaluation of the innovation culture and the internal view of process innovation, Statista deployed online surveys where employees could score their own company on a scale system.

For the evaluation of the external view of process innovation as well as product innovation, Statista surveyed experts in various fields – from recruiters to management consultants and patent attorneys. For the evaluation of the IP portfolio, Statista cooperated with LexisNexis PatentSight and used its platform to analyze the quantity and value of a company’s patents.

The 300 U.S. companies with the highest score were awarded America’s Most Innovative Companies 2025.

Statista publishes hundreds of worldwide industry rankings and company listings with high-profile media partners. This research and analysis service is based on the success of statista.com, the leading data and business intelligence portal that provides statistics, relevant business data and various market and consumer studies and surveys.

CoxHealth Earns Placement on Fortune's 'Most Innovative Companies 2025' List