West County Care Center history

Lead mining was carried out here before the war, but no large deposits were found until 1870, one of which led to the founding of the city of Joplin, Missouri.

In April of 1877, Miami County, Kansas merchant, Charles L. Skinner platted Carl Junction with 81 lots, seven streets and four alleys.

The first train ran through Carl Junction on the newly completed line July 20, 1879.

Carl Junction got the nation's attention in August of 1892, when the fossilized remains of two adult and two infant elephants were discovered at the 20 foot level of a mine belonging to Silas A. Stuckey, on the south end of town.

These bones of the extinct species, Elephas Americanus, were purchased by a St Louis businessman and displayed at the Columbian Exposition of the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, and one of the skeletons was reputed to have been the largest ever found for the species up to that time.

In 1983, in an effort to maintain market share and become a player in the managed care arena, St John Medical Center developed CompMed Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). St John and Bartlett Memorial Hospital in Sapulpa were the only two hospitals in the network.

In 1984, St John created two additional managed care products, ExcelCare and the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). ExcelCare offers utilization management and quality assurance services.

In January 1985, the managed healthcare industry began to grow rapidly.

In 1986, the network expanded and additional opportunities increased in the Oklahoma City area.

In 1990, Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City became interested in ownership of the CompMed Oklahoma City network and negotiated a contract.

As the policies and procedures for CommunityCare HMO were developed, it began to make good business sense to merge Saint Francis' HealthFirst PPO with St John's CompMed. As a result of the merger, Preferred CommunityChoice PPO became operational in April 1994.

In 1996, CommunityCare began offering a Medicare Advantage plan called Senior Health Plan.

In 2000, CommunityCare began offering CommunityCare Life and Health Insurance Company PPO Plan, a PPO product for employers with 50 or more employees (now also available to small groups), that utilizes the Preferred CommunityChoice network.

2001 saw the launch of a new advertising campaign using nursery rhymes to communicate the advertising message.

Springer Clinic, Northeast Oklahoma's oldest and largest multi-specialty medical clinic, joined CommunityCare HMO in 2002.

Also, in 2003, CommunityCare Managed Healthcare Plans of Oklahoma introduced two new products.

CommunityCare HealthShare HRA was introduced in 2005.

In 2009, CommunityCare introduced its Individual Health Plan to the market.

In 2014, CommunityCare created a new company, CommunityCare Government Programs.