Riverton Medical District Announces critical new partnership

RIVERTON, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) -

The Riverton Medical District made a big announcement this week. Their progress toward a not for profit hospital in Riverton just got one step closer.

They announced they will be partnering with the Billings Medical Clinic, with a focus on local care.

Riverton Medical District representative Corte McGuffey stated, “Billings Clinic reached out to our group and wanted to meet, and they had heard about what was happening here in Fremont County as far as what our health care and hospital situation was.” McGuffey was referring to the lack of medical services available in Riverton, like childbirth and many surgeries.

“The more and more we talked, we just saw that this was a great opportunity to work together. Our group has always admitted we don’t know how to run a hospital, and Billings Clinic obviously does. They have such a great reputation for patient care and rural health care especially,” added McGuffey.

This partnership joins several Wyoming cities that Billings Clinic already has relations with, such as in Basin, Lovell, Powell, and two clinics in Cody. McGuffey explained, “It was a way for us to maintain local ownership and control over our healthcare but also get the backing of a top notch clinical partner.”

At first the group was nervous about a large medical entity, wanting to make sure they didn’t get into the same situation as before. “It was obvious from day one that was not the case, and that was big to us. They’re not in the business of owning their affiliates. They feel like healthcare is best when decisions are made locally. That really gave us the confidence to move forward,” McGuffey noted.

The Riverton Medical District hopes to have their USDA loan application submitted within about four to six weeks.

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