Benefis discontinuing some local services in financial restructure

Benefis Health System notified employees this morning that it was restructuring some services in Great Falls.

The changes will begin implementation on Dec. 19 and continue into the new year, Benefis officials told The Electric.

An employee update was emailed at 9:42 a.m. Nov. 3 and said that “the financial environment is very difficult for hospitals and health systems,” particularly for “safety net hospitals/health systems such as Benefis” where 75 percent of patients are covered by governmental programs.

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The hospital is making changes to prevent slipping from its current break-even situation to financial losses, according to the update, and to protect Benefis’ financial health, employees and prepare for an “even more financially challenging year in 2027.”

To adjust, Benefis told staff on Nov. 3 that:

• services currently provided at Benefis Northwest Clinic will be consolidated to East Campus
• services will be discontinued at the inpatient rehabilitation facility on West Campus, accommodating those care needs through other avenues, including swing bed and transitional care services
• outpatient counseling, psychiatry, and psychology services will be discontinued; instead, Benefis will work with partner entities such as Many Rivers Whole Health, formerly named the Center for Mental Health, and Shodair Children’s Hospital for those services

In the employee update, officials wrote that leadership was communicting communicating directly with those affected by these changes, providing additional information, timing and next steps.

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A registered nurse who works at Benefis and asked not to be identified told The Electric that she learned Nov. 2 that the behavioral health services and inpatient rehab floor were closing. She said that will impact hundreds of patients and about 100 employees. She said the change means no outpatient therapy, psychology or psychiatric medication management services and that the Meadowlark Initiative, a program providing perinatal counseling services to women, will close.

Benefis officials did not confirm that information to The Electric.

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Benefis owns the property at 25 14th Ave. N.W., where it operates a 7,600-square-foot clinic offering urgent care and primary care services, including lab and X-ray, pediatrics and family medicine and specialized procedure rooms.

The inpatient rehabilitation facility at West Campus is a 20-bed speciality unit that provides care after injury or a medical event, according to Benefis’ website. Patients there work with “a multidisciplinary team that includes a physiatrist; neuropsychologist; nurse practitioners; nurse specialists; registered nurses; physical, occupational, and speech- language therapists; and liaisons. If needed, specialists can assist patients with nutrition concerns, wound care, and prosthetic or other mobility devices.”

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Kaci Husted, a Benefis senior vice president, told The Electric that the changes won’t impact 72-hour mental health holds, which are handled as acute inpatient care.

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Many Rivers was selected as one of four Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in Montana through a federal program, as part of which Many Rivers must offer nine core services, including:

• crisis response
• screening and assessment
• treatment planning
• outpatient mental health and substance use disorder services
• primary care screening
• targeted case management
• psychiatric rehabilitation
• peer and family support
• community–based mental health care for veterans