A community health center in south central Montana and a second in eastern Montana are pooling their resources to better serve the low-income, uninsured and underinsured in their regions.
Community Health Partners—or CHP-- serving Gallatin and Park counties is merging with One Health based in Hardin.
It’s a partnership that has been discussed for quite some time, says CHP CEO Lander Cooney.
“We’re always operating in an environment of scarce resources,” says Cooney. “And so I think that pushes us to be creative and to think about partnerships and opportunities to gain efficiencies and to be innovative and creative.”
CHP provides behavioral health, dental, medical care and pharmacy services in clinics in Belgrade, Bozeman and Livingston as well as the Belgrade and the Bozeman School Districts. One Health operates seven sites in Montana and four in northern Wyoming as well as several school-based and drop-in locations.
Cooney says patients should experience minimal changes.
“Over time what we really hope will happen is that we have –we are able to increase access to wider array of services through becoming, you know, a larger organization. We have opportunities to share best practices,” says Cooney.
The merger will be official in May, 2024.
