Five years after first announcing an affiliation between the two largest healthcare providers in the Flathead Valley, Whitefish’s North Valley Hospital (NVH) has become a “fully integrated” part of Kalispell-based Logan Health, a move that will include the hospital rebranding as Logan Health Whitefish.
The newly renamed hospital sent out a press release announcing the change Monday afternoon, sharing that the North Valley Hospital Board of Directors voted to approve the partnership on June 22.
“This is the natural next step in what has been a beneficial relationship between the two organizations for more than five years,” North Valley Hospital Board of Directors Chair Mirna Bowden said. “By fully integrating with Logan Health we will better position the organization for success in the future through advanced IT platforms and the benefits of economies of scale. Patients will receive a high quality of care.”
Logan Health, which itself rebranded from Kalispell Regional Healthcare (KRH) earlier this year, agreed to a formal affiliation agreement with its Whitefish-based counterpart in April 2016. That agreement did not involve any transfer of assets but did allow the two hospital systems to share some resources and streamline access to specialty services. It also provided increased efficiencies in “finance, health information technology and material management,” according to NVH.
“Operationally, the two organizations have aligned many practices, protocols and patient care initiatives, which were most evident during the COVID-19 pandemic,” North Valley Hospital CEO Kevin Abel said in the press release. “By working together to create solutions for testing, staffing, patient care — and most recently vaccination — the operational teams became even more united.”
The process to change the name of NVH to Logan Health Whitefish is expected to be completed in the coming months and is part of Logan Health’s broader effort to align all of its medical offerings under one umbrella name. Logan Health boasts more than 4,000 employees at its clinics, hospitals and other facilities in Northwest Montana and along the Montana Hi-Line.
KRH announced it would be re-branding as Logan Health in December 2020 and began the lengthy transition process in January.