Billings Clinic announced a $91 million investment in Billings and Bozeman. This includes a new health care facility in Bozeman, the fastest growing community in Montana.
And with that growth, said Billings Clinic CEO Dr. Randall Gibb, comes a demand for health care services.
“When we looked at the feasibility study and looking at Bozeman, it became evident there are not enough providers in Bozeman to keep up with the growth,” he said.
Billings Clinic officials traveled to Bozeman to announce the launch of phase one of its project that will focus on primary, specialty and urgent care with an outpatient surgery center. It will be built on property Billings Clinic owns near the 19th Street Exit. Officials hope to break ground next year.
The estimated project budget for Bozeman is between $35-and 40-million. The remainder of the $91 million total is for improvements to expand and enhance a number of patient services in Billings.
“And then of course what we’ve all been waiting for – last but not least – for all of my employees, a parking garage,” said Dr. Gibb to an audience that began laughing and applauding at the announcement. He said there simply aren’t enough parking spaces around Billings Clinic to accommodate its growing staff.
The parking garage is planned for 430 spaces.
Dr. Gibb said its growth brings with it the challenge of finding providers.
“So you have asked the only thing that keeps me up at night about the Bozeman project,” he said.
Although he’s fairly confident staffing of up to 150 providers will be filled fairly quickly in Bozeman. But he added he is concerned some doctors in Billings will want to relocate their practice to Bozeman.
Meanwhile, recruiting continues for Billings.
“We’re short already anybody who’s an –ologist, tech or –ist after their job title,” he said.
Dr. Gibb said in Billings alone the organization has been hiring on average between 29-to-40 doctors a year over the past 4 years.
