The Board of the non-profit community-owned Community Medical Center in Missoula, Mont., has approved a joint venture with the Billings Clinic and RegionalCare Hospital Partners that would, among other objectives, switch it to a for-profit entity.

Community Medical Center is a 146-bed hospital that serves Missoula County. It has a special focus on pediatrics and is one of only three facilities in the state offering high-risk obstetrical care and neonatal intensive care. It is also the only hospital in western Montana that has a separate Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

The state Attorney General's office will need to review the details of the agreement, but if the partnership is allowed to move forward, Community Medical Center would become a for-profit hospital that is part of the Regional Hospital Partners system of rural community hospitals. These currently include eight facilities in seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

It also would gain access to RegionalCare capital resources through the private equity group, Warburg Pincus as well as other sources. Making necessary capital investments in new technology and continuing to improve balance sheet financial strength, were two of the goals for the merger listed by Community in its press release.

Community was already loosely affiliated with the not-for-profit Billings Clinic, which serves much of Montana, northern Wyoming and the western Dakotas. Billings is a physician led, integrated multi-specialty group practice with a 285-bed hospital and Level II trauma center that also manages 11 Critical Access Hospitals, multiple branch clinics and a long term care facility.

On its website, Community disclosed that its Board and leadership worked with Cain Brothers, a health care consulting company and an internal physician task force in seeking a merger partner. It noted that it is in good shape financially, but that coming changes in how health care will be delivered and paid for makes becoming a part of a larger system a strategically smart move at this time for a community hospital that serves a less populated area of the country.

Currently, Community treats around 6,000 inpatients and provides more than 151,000 outpatient services each year. Patient visits are more than 97,000 and medical staff includes 300 physicians.

“The Board strongly believes that entering into a joint venture with another regional community hospital will provide western Montana with the greatest opportunity to continue the historical mission of Community Medical Center,” the hospital noted in its press release.