Billings Clinic, Logan Health to unite on Sept. 1
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BILLINGS/KALISPELL — Billings Clinic and Logan Health announced on Thursday, Aug. 3, they will officially combine into a single, independent health system on Sept. 1, 2023. The regulatory review of the proposed combination of the two organizations has passed and both are committed to moving forward together.
“Billings Clinic and Logan Health have a shared commitment to the people of Montana and Wyoming,” said Billings Clinic CEO Clint Seger, MD. “We are alike in many ways and have a collective vision for what we can do together to close care gaps, recruit and retain talent, develop solutions to meet patient needs and advance our legacies of clinical excellence and serving our communities. We will be focused on connecting the rural communities between us and around us to improve care coordination while striving to keep care as locally as possible.”
In February, Billings Clinic and Logan Health announced a signed letter of intent to combine into an independent, Montana-based health system. By uniting the two organizations, they can be better together and better positioned to adapt to the rapidly changing health care environment. They intend to sustain and grow services to meet the needs of Montana and Wyoming families.
A new, combined health system will provide the capacity to work together to integrate and magnify opportunities to serve their communities, with a focus on:
— Improving quality, safety and service
— Expanding the depth and breadth of primary and specialty care
— Providing an inter-connected rural trauma and emergency transport program
— Combining each organization’s longstanding commitment to mental health
— Creating a diverse and welcoming organization where everyone feels informed, heard and cared for; and engaging in an impactful approach for addressing population health; health equity and health disparities, including underserved populations and our tribal partners
— Continuing to more effectively reinvest in advancing care and services for the communities we serve
— Enhancing recruitment and retention of excellent physicians, nurses, clinicians and other key
staff
— Growing medical education, research opportunities and innovation
The newly combined organization will be governed by a 10-member board, composed of five individuals from the current Billings Clinic Board and five from the current Logan Health Board. The board chair will be from Billings Clinic and the Vice Chair from Logan Health. Logan Health President and CEO Craig Lambrecht, MD will serve as Chief Executive Officer, and Billings Clinic CEO Clint Seger, MD will serve as Chief Physician Executive. Both Drs. Lambrecht and Seger have deep roots in the Montana-Wyoming region and are committed to enhancing rural health across the region. Dr. Lambrecht is an Emergency Medicine physician whose great-grandfather homesteaded near Havre. He is a fourth generation Montanan with a working cattle ranch in eastern Montana. He brings many years of physician CEO experience to the new health system. Dr. Seger, a Family Medicine physician, grew up in Buffalo, Wyoming, and practiced as a hospitalist physician in Cody, Wyoming, before moving into leadership roles at Billings Clinic. Seger views partnerships with rural communities and hospitals as a critical part of making sure that people don’t have to travel far for the health care they need, especially in Montana and Wyoming where local critical access hospitals are an important point of care. He brings his deep knowledge of clinical issues and many years of experience in rural health care to his new role.
While there will be minimal changes in how each organization operates on day one, integration teams will continue work to unify the two organizations, identifying operational synergies and opportunities to improve quality, access, coordinated care, patient experience, employee experience and provider experience. This integration work is expected to take 12-24 months.
“I am confident that an independent, Montana-based health system will have a significant positive impact on our region,” said Dr. Lambrecht. “By coming together, our combined organization will continue to be our region’s leader in rural health, addressing health equity and disparities, enhancing access to a broader range of services, and improving health and well-being of our communities ... we are very excited to enhance the delivery of health care to patients in Montana and Wyoming.”
