North Valley Hospital’s plans for a new clinic in Columbia Falls took another step forward after the hospital’s board approved funding for the project in its capital budget in June.

Talks about building a new clinic on School District 6 property have been on hold since February. The school board approved a resolution on Monday, Aug. 18, allowing the sale of 2.5 acres of surplus school land near Ruder Elementary School.

Details of the sale are still being negotiated, but the new facility is expected to replace the Professional Center on U.S. 2 West in Columbia Falls. According to Margaret Bumgarner, the hospital’s senior director of provider services, the cost of renovating the center was prohibitive.

A preliminary plan for the site on Talbott Road near Glacier Drive calls for an 8,700-square-foot building with room for expansion. The site is zoned CRA-1, residential, but permitted uses for that zoning district include medical and dental clinics, and no public process is required, city manager Susan Nicosia said.

The hospital is having the land reappraised, and a boundary line adjustment will be necessary to separate that parcel from other school district land. The final parcel could end up being less than 2.5 acres.

If everything goes smoothly, a buy-sell agreement could go to the school board in September. The hospital has talked about breaking ground this fall, but they also said that might be a little too ambitious.

The school district has more land than it needs for school facilities, school clerk Dustin Zuffelato said. Several years ago, the district sold land to Bee Hive Homes for a senior living facility. Conditions were attached to that sale to protect the neighborhood, limiting what types of uses the land could be used for if resold.

There also is talk of establishing a school-based health clinic at the new facility. Nearly 2,000 such clinics exist across the U.S., providing primary medical care, mental and behavioral health care, dental care, health education and promotion, substance abuse counseling and nutrition education. About 20 percent of them receive federal funding.

According to the School-Based Health Alliance, a national group founded in 1995, “The school setting is a sensible and appropriate place to deliver health care because that is where the students are.” School-based health clinics “reduce health inequities and improve health outcomes for underserved youth.”

While both the school district and the hospital like the idea of establishing a school-based health clinic in Columbia Falls, no decision has been made on whether the new facility would work that way. In the meantime, a proposal has been made to use school nurses offices in the junior high and high schools for half a day each as a school-based health clinic.

The school district is also in talks with North Valley Hospital and Kalispell Regional Medical Center for ways to bring down healthcare costs for its teachers and staff. School District 6 is self-insured and is seeking discounted services.

“There’s more negotiating room now for healthcare costs than before,” Zuffelato said.

A cost-savings arrangement with North Valley Hospital would be separate from the new clinic. Zuffelato said the school district hoped to have a deal in place by January.