POCATELLO—A community health organization headquartered in the Gate City will soon add several new facilities and approximately 16,000 new patients from three states to its network following a sizable acquisition.

Health West, a local non-profit organization that strives to provide an array of health care services regardless of a person’s ability to pay, announced this week that it is in the process of acquiring seven facilities across northern Utah, Southeast Idaho and Wyoming from Bear Lake Community Health Center.

“We’re definitely excited,” said Health West Chief Executive Officer Mindy Benedetti. “We have met with the Bear Lake team, which is incredible as well, and we’re extremely excited to join forces. There’s a lot of unmet need in the health care industry, and there’s a lot of work to be done. The more individuals and the more we can collaborate I think the better position that we’ll be in to help address this.”

Health West started in the Gate City nearly five decades ago and has grown from one facility to 12 clinics including six in Pocatello and one each in Chubbuck, Lava Hot Springs, Aberdeen, American Falls, Downey and Preston. Health West also works in conjunction with Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 to provide behavioral health services across 10 schools in the district.

Health West provides a complete range of health care services including primary care, pediatrics, OB-GYN, behavioral health and dental. In addition to those services, Health West works closely with the Idaho State University Family Medicine Residency, the University of Utah Psychiatry Residency and several other university programs across the region.

Once the acquisition of Bear Lake Community Health Center is finalized—which Benedetti expects to happen sometime this spring—the seven Bear Lake clinics will be rebranded under the Health West umbrella. In addition to the 16,000 new patients, the acquisition will increase Health West’s number of employees to about 350 working in a network that will include 19 clinics.

The acquisition will extend Health West’s coverage area to Montpelier; Garden City, Utah; North Logan, Utah; Providence, Utah; Brigham City, Utah; Rock Springs, Wyoming; and Evanston, Wyoming.

Benedetti said the Bear Lake Community Health Center board of directors approached the Health West board about the possibility of a merger a few months ago. She said the two organizations were familiar with one another, having worked together previously on other projects.

“Both centers had worked very closely together,” she said. “I think there’s a culture of us working really closely together. They had approached us and said that they were in a position where they were just not going to be sustainable moving forward and wanted to know what Health West’s interest was in partnering to oversee health care in their region in the future.”

Health West is currently in the process of obtaining the necessary credentials and insurance providers for its expanded coverage area, Benedetti said, but in the interim all existing Bear Lake clinics will remain open.

“The transition has already provided stability for patients and employees, created improved business relationships in the community and portends a bright future for the seven clinics being acquired,” Bear Lake Board Chairman Roy Bunderson said. “As a board, we have been repeatedly impressed with the swift and capable leadership of Mindy Benedetti and her team as they have begun the business transition which is strongly supported by our membership.”

Knowing that the thousands of patients currently receiving care from Bear Lake facilities won’t slip through the cracks is huge for Mark Horrocks, Health West’s chief medical officer.

“From my standpoint, if (Bear Lake) is not sustainable then that means there’s thousands of patients that’ll lose all their medical care, dental care and behavioral health care and we’re trying to extend our safety net to catch them,” Horrocks said.

Though the Bear Lake clinics are somewhat smaller than Health West’s facilities from both an employee and service perspective, Bear Lake boasts a larger market area, which was something that was an attractive factor in the acquisition, Benedetti said.

Health West is a mission oriented organization that aims to not only ensure access to care, but also seeks to ensure that care is affordable. Those without insurance pay for care on a sliding scale based on their income.

Over the years, Health West has received numerous accolades for the high quality of the services it provides. Health West has won numerous Idaho State Journal Readers’ Choice Awards including Best Medical Services, Best Place to Work, Best Boss, Best Urgent Care and Best Behavioral Health.

“Our mission is to proactively provide quality, affordable patient-centered health care,” said Kelly Martinez, the outreach manager for Health West. “And that’s not just a statement, it’s actually something that people here eat, breathe and live.”

Benedetti says the acquisition will definitely elevate the status of Health West, moving the organization from a more locally based group to one that is more well known at the regional level.

“This will increase the services the health center has on the regional and even the national level,” she said. “The more we’re able to collaborate with different primary care associations and work with different states around what their health care needs are, I think the more we’re able to build upon our mission to ensure that communities have the care that they need.”

Benedetti commended her team at Health West for what she said has been incredible work over the years—work that made an acquisition like this possible and she’s looking forward to what the future holds.

“This is an incredible team that we have here,” she said. “I think their work over the last three years has been really a demonstration of how powerful they are, and I’m excited to see where the help from all of them takes our organization in the future.”