Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
BASIN — The South Big Horn County Hospital District Board of Directors has approved an exclusive Letter of Intent to start the process of exploring an affiliation agreement with Billings Clinic.
South Big Horn County Hospital has been considering options for partnership with a larger health care organization to enhance medical services through a partnership that will help the organization adapt to the evolving health care industry.
“Billings Clinic has a proven track record across our region for their quality of care, partnerships and outreach services in rural communities,” said Tadd Greenfield, South Big Horn County Hospital District CEO. “They have the ability to support us as we strengthen and sustain care to our patients by coordinating our unique strengths and resources. Working together with an organization that understands and excels at rural health care is incredibly important.”
Billings Clinic has more than 15 relationships with health care facilities across Montana and northern Wyoming. Once the affiliation agreement is complete, South Big Horn Hospital would join North Big Horn Hospital in Lovell, Billings Clinic Cody Clinic, and Powell Valley Healthcare as part of Billings Clinic’s growing regional health system.
Affiliation includes the opportunity to be part of Billings Clinic’s integrated, shared electronic medical record that allows efficient and streamlined communication and easy, safe access to information for clinical staff in order to best care for patients.
Billings Clinic would also provide support for quality and patient safety, human resources, compliance services, physician recruitment, and collaboration to enhance specialty care services locally.
“Creating relationships that enable health care in communities throughout the region to thrive is one of Billings Clinic’s main commitments,” said Dr. Scott Ellner, Billings Clinic CEO. “Having multiple hospitals, including South Big Horn County Hospital, as part of our health system enhances coordinated care and keeps patients close to home whenever possible. Affiliation allows us to help build on the local expertise, relationships and knowledge of the teams in Basin to benefit patients and the community.”
A collaboration committee will be established to formalize the affiliation agreement and determine more details of what it will look like. The process is expected to be complete in three to four months.
About South Big Horn County Hospital District
The South Big Horn County Hospital District was formed in December 1954, in an effort to combine the two home hospitals in the Wyoming towns of Basin and Greybull into one centrally located facility. The construction of the facility was completed between October 1955 and January 1957.
Bonnie Bluejacket Memorial Nursing Home was added in 1975. In 1987 the physician offices were relocated to the campus.
The hospital closed in 1994 due to financial hardship. In May 2000 the Board of Directors began the process of reopening South Big Horn Hospital as a Critical Access Hospital. This was successfully achieved in 2002 making South Big Horn County Hospital the first designated Critical Access Hospital in Wyoming. Phased improvements to the existing facility began with the addition of the new lab and radiology departments in 2009, followed by the opening of the new ER, 10 bed inpatient wing, dietary, materials management, and plant operations infrastructure completed in January 2016.
The third phased improvement involved the opening of the new rural health clinic with nine exam rooms and a new physician office suite in 2018.
About Billings Clinic
Billings Clinic is Montana’s largest health system, serving Montana, Wyoming and the western Dakotas. A not-for-profit organization led by a physician CEO, Billings Clinic is governed by a board of community members and physicians.
At its core, Billings Clinic is a physician-led, integrated multispecialty group practice with a 304-bed hospital and Level II trauma center. Billings Clinic has more than 4,500 employees, including more than 480 physicians and advanced practitioners offering more than 50 specialties.
More information can be found at http://www.billingsclinic.com.