broader partnership<\/a>. <\/p>\n ![\"St](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792178750_733_.jpeg\")
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Evan Charney, MTN News<\/p>\n
Signage for a St. Peter’s building in Helena<\/p>\n
The organizations publicly announced those discussions on July 14, saying they were looking at collaboration in areas including clinical services, workforce development, technology, purchasing and operational efficiencies. Both organizations have said the discussions are not aimed at a merger or acquisition.<\/p>\n
St. Peter\u2019s said letters were sent to patients and residents in August ahead of the Townsend transition.<\/p>\n
Lee said consolidating services allows the healthcare systems to reduce duplicated administrative burdens and fixed costs while maintaining access to care.<\/p>\n
Billings Clinic leaders say those efforts are increasingly important as rural healthcare providers face challenges recruiting and retaining employees. <\/p>\n
![\"Nurse\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792178750_780_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Evan Charney, MTN News<\/p>\n
A nurse works at the Billings Clinic in Townsend<\/p>\n
\u201cHealthcare headwinds are challenging in the rural area with clinical services, hiring providers hiring staff become a challenge,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSustainability is probably the key word in this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Lee said the distance rural Montanans sometimes have to travel for medical services is part of what makes maintaining local care important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a hardship to have to travel for care for many people across our state,\u201d Lee said. \u201cWe live in a very rural state and travel for healthcare is tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
What patients need to know<\/p>\n
Watne is now seeing patients at Billings Clinic Broadwater. Patients who want to continue receiving primary care from her can call 406-266-3186 to schedule an appointment. St. Peter\u2019s says patients can also use that number to establish care with another available Billings Clinic Broadwater provider. <\/p>\n
Patients who want to remain with St. Peter\u2019s Health can call 406-447-2844 to schedule an appointment in Helena.<\/p>\n
Billings Clinic Broadwater, located at 110 N. Oak St. in Townsend, provides local services including emergency care, lab work and imaging.<\/p>\n
Miller said the consolidation could eventually give patients access to more services in one place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will have more access to a one-stop shop where they can get their labs and radiology and eventually a visiting specialist,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
![\"Medical](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792178750_565_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Evan Charney, MTN News<\/p>\n
Medical equipment sits in an exam room at Billing Clinic<\/p>\n
St. Peter\u2019s says the two organizations are exploring opportunities for St. Peter\u2019s specialists to visit Billings Clinic Broadwater, potentially including providers in orthopedics, general surgery, neurology, and cardiology.<\/p>\n
Patients transitioning from St. Peter\u2019s should also be aware that their medical records may need to be transferred. St. Peter\u2019s directs patients to its medical records service to complete that process. The health system also advises patients to check with their insurance carrier to make sure Billings Clinic Broadwater is in-network for their specific plan. <\/p>\n
For Ludricks, the most important part of the transition is that care remains available close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing that St. Pete\u2019s is gonna be over there, I am totally fine with,\u201d Ludricks said. \u201cJust being over there, it\u2019ll be no problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she sees benefits in consolidating the services as long as the resources remain available in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think consolidating them is very beneficial just to have it,\u201d Ludricks said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOWNSEND \u2014 Patients who received care at St. Peter\u2019s Health Townsend Clinic will now be directed about five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-429769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Broadwater](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792178749_196_.jpeg\")
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