The Pondera Medical Center Board of Directors gave a verbal commitment on April 6th to move forward in negotiations with Logan Health (Kalispell Regional Healthcare). A membership substitution agreement is scheduled to be signed at the next scheduled PMC Board Meeting on Tuesday, April 27th.
The membership substitution agreement (MSA) is a common structure where PMC will partner in management with Logan Health who will become the new “member.” In addition, as is common in this type of transaction, PMC’s corporate structure will remain intact, including retention of its board of directors. With this arrangement, PMC will operate under the Logan Health banner, changing its name to Logan Health — Conrad. PMC is one of three hospitals in the Hi-Line Region in the process of joining the Logan Health system.
CEO Bill O’Leary shares: “The decision to join the Logan Health family has not been taken lightly by PMC's Board of Directors. The partnership with Logan Health allows us to continue our mission to be a community-invested Critical Access Hospital. The Membership Substitution Agreement affords us the ability to maintain local control and to provide an increase in services with quality care.”
The new partnership gives area hospitals the opportunity to scale and share resources while also improving physician recruitment efforts and retention of staff. The single-member model offers PMC a great deal of local control while also allowing the medical center to enjoy the benefits of being part of a larger organization. The plan ensures that donations to PMC will stay local. As part of the agreement, Logan Health will help PMC enhance specialty services, upgrade the medical center’s infrastructure, electronic medical health records and improve staff benefits.
The details of the agreement will be finalized at the end of April and the partnership will be effective on May 1.