MISSOULA — Partnership Health and Missoula County have officially parted ways.
Missoula County and Partnership Health Center (PHC) announced in May that they were mutually parting ways and now, all PHC employees are officially only part of the independent health center.
Partnership Health Center became a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in 1992, and since then, it's operated in tandem with Missoula County to provide a variety of services.
The FQHC designation allows the center to receive federal grant assistance. The total funding, PHC CEO Laura Salazar says, comes in at around $6 million per year.
"We were in what was called a co-applicant agreement with Missoula County for that federal designation," Salazar said.
"It was a model that was envisioned as a way to connect clinics and federally qualified health centers with public health departments," she continued.
The clinic has expanded to serve more than 18,000 patients and PHC believes becoming an independent center will allow the non-profit more room to grow.
"Many health centers grow to a point where municipalities and healthcare organizations are very different and so separating is a normal natural thing," Salazar said.
Salazar says no jobs were lost in this transition and that it will not change patient care.
"We've always been a nonprofit 501c3 and so it's really an easy transition. It's more legal and administrative than it is material, right? We still provide the same services we are still great partners in the community with the county and so it's really just a legal separation. Patients can expect the same really great high-quality services and smiling faces as they walk through the door, full services under one roof by one organization," Salazar said.
PHC notes it's common for health centers to separate from their local health department. Other federally qualified health centers in the state, in Cascade and Flathead counties, have done the same.
