Billings Clinic

Billings Clinic

File:Billings Clinic logo.jpg
Type	Non-profit organization
Industry	Healthcare
Headquarters	Billings, MT, U.S.
Area served	North America
Website	http://www.billingsclinic.com/

Billings Clinic, based in Billings, Montana, is Montana's largest health care organization and serves a vast region covering much of Montana, northern Wyoming and the western Dakotas. Billings Clinic is a physician-led, integrated multi-specialty group practice with a 304-bed hospital, Level II trauma center, and a 90-bed skilled nursing and assisted living facility.

Billings Clinic is one of Montana's largest employers with approximately 4,000 staff including more than 400 physicians and advanced practitioners offering more than 50 specialties. These professionals work together to provide coordinated and complete care. Their primary and specialty care clinics are located at Billings Clinic downtown, Billings Clinic Heights, and Billings Clinic West, as well as in Bozeman, Columbus, Miles City, Montana, Red Lodge, and Cody, Wyoming. Primary care is also available at Colstrip, Montana.

Billings Clinic Hospital is at the heart of their downtown medical campus. The 304-bed hospital includes a 20-suite Family Birth Center, a 15-bed transitional care unit, and Level II trauma center. Billings Clinic also owns and operates Aspen Meadows, a 90-bed retirement community and long-term care facility located on the west end of Billings. In 2013 AARP The Magazine named the Billings Clinic one of the safest hospitals in America.

History

Billings Clinic history stretches back to the founding of the Billings Clinic and Billings Deaconess Hospital. Billings Clinic evolved from the general practice of Dr. Arthur J. Movius who founded his Billings practice in 1911.

Movius was trained with a year’s internship at a Minneapolis, Minnesota hospital and had experience in the primitive surgery of the day. He, like other surgeons, depended on informal training to develop his skills: reading, medical center visits and experience.

The practice grew and by 1915, Dr. J.H. Bridenbaugh joined Movius as an assistant. Bridenbaugh took over obstetrics and the working of a strange gadget that had just been added, the x-ray machine. When Bridenbaugh went to war in 1917, he was assigned to radiology and received basic training in that field. After the war he installed new diagnostic x-ray equipment and radiation therapy—both radium and x-ray.

During the 1920s a third general practitioner joined the group. By 1930, a fourth physician with training in obstetrics was added. Shortly after, another general practitioner was added, bringing skill in the management of fractures and trauma problems. The group was known as the Movius-Bridenbaugh Clinic.

In 1939, the group devised a plan to bring in physicians as partners to the practice, and the name was changed to The Billings Clinic. Growth of the clinic after World War II required expanded facilities. In 1950 building construction began across the street from Billings Deaconess Hospital.

Billings Deaconess Hospital was incorporated in 1907 but didn’t open until after World War I. Community support was elicited to fund the project in 1922. The Reverend Charles D. Crouch was appointed by Bishop Charles Wesley Burns to complete the fundraising effort. Assuring each giver that every penny donated would be spent on the hospital; he is credited with having gathered over $75,000. The cornerstone of the building was laid in 1923, and the hospital opened on June 30, 1927.

The inception of the laboratory was in 1935. In 1950 Dr. Edwin Curtiss Segard began his sojourning at Deaconess as the first pathologist. Segard was the Laboratory Director from 1950 to 1980. Segard pioneered the implementation of quality systems and laboratory testing.

The hospital had 58 beds and a medical staff of 12 doctors and 16 nurses. One floor was used as a nurses’ residence, housing many students of the Billings Deaconess Nursing School.

As the population of Billings expanded so did the need for additional space. In 1943, a student nurse residence hall was constructed. This freed space in the hospital for more patient rooms. By 1952, the hospital added a north wing, increasing bed capacity to 144. Services were expanded to include new x-ray facilities, laboratory services, operating rooms, delivery rooms, psychotherapy services and the region’s first isotope therapy department.

By 1961, a south wing was added, increasing the number of beds to 205. The pediatrics area was also enlarged and the hospital gained a new chapel. During the 1960s and 1970s. Billings Deaconess continued to expand its services and capabilities. In 1972, the hospital pioneered Billings’ first open-heart surgery.

To better reflect the expansion of services in the region, Billings Deaconess Hospital changed its name to Deaconess Medical Center.

Billings Clinic and Deaconess Medical Center Merge

In 1993, the Billings Clinic and Deaconess Medical Center merged to become an integrated health care organization named Deaconess Billings Clinic. In 2001, The Family Birth Center was opened, offering a 12-suite LDRP unit, a new concept in birthing for the area.

In 2004, Digital radiology was implemented system wide; and one electronic medical record was implemented at all Billings Clinic locations.

In 2005, Deaconess Billings Clinic changed its name to Billings Clinic. In 2007, The Emergency & Trauma Center opened, offering expanded emergency and Intensive Care services.

Today the hospital has grown into a 304-bed trauma center that provides inpatient and outpatient care serving people in a four-state region. Billings Clinic is led by President and CEO, Nicholas Wolter, MD.

Billings Clinic Cancer Center

In September 2007, Billings Clinic broke ground on its new 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m²) cancer center, south of Billings Clinic. The new facility as well as the new main entrance to Billings Clinic opened August 2009.

Billings Clinic Surgery Center

In December 2007, Billings Clinic began construction on their 29,000-square-foot (2,700 m²) Surgery Center, located at the corner of 10th Avenue North and North 30th Street. The Billings Clinic Surgery Center opened in February 2009. The Surgery Center focuses on outpatient surgical procedures.

See also

• List of hospitals in Montana
• Hospital Compare Site
• Affiliate Hospitals

References

• Billings Clinic Cancer Center Receives Perfect Score by the Commission on Cancer, Billings Gazette, 1-17-08
• Billings Clinic Performs First Mini-Maze Surgery in Region Minimally Invasive Procedure Treats Atrial Fibrillation, Topix.
• Billings Clinic-Best Hospitals in the US, TRA News.

External links

• Billings Clinic
• Regional Clinics and Affiliate Hospitals
• Clinical Trials at Billings Clinic
• History of Billings Clinic