After years of affiliation, North Valley Hospital is officially merging with Logan Health and changing its name to reflect the shift.

The North Valley Hospital Board of Directors on June 22 voted to become a member of the health care system, formally known as Kalispell Regional Healthcare, and rename the hospital facility here to Logan Health Whitefish, the hospital announced Monday afternoon.

North Valley officially became affiliated with the other health care facilities under the umbrella of what was then Kalispell Regional Healthcare in May of 2016.

“This is the natural next step in what has been a beneficial relationship between the two organizations for over five years,” Dr. Mirna Bowden, North Valley Hospital Board of Directors Chair, said in a release. “By fully integrating with Logan Health we will better position the organization for success in the future through advanced IT platforms and the benefits of economies of scale. Patients will still receive the same high quality of care.”

Whitefish’s hospital opened in 1905 and for roughly 50 years has operated under the name North Valley Hospital. The hospital was known as Whitefish Memorial Hospital when it was located at its site on Park Avenue, according to Pilot archives, and then was renamed as North Valley Hospital when it opened in a new building in 1971 on U.S. Highway 93. The name was retained when the hospital relocated to its current location in 2007.

Kalispell Regional Healthcare in May transitioned its name to Logan Health. The health care system consists of more than 40 hospitals, clinics and facilities across the Flathead Valley and elsewhere.

Since the affiliation began, the two health care facilities have shared physicians and other clinical staff, and many business services have also been shared. The two organizations have also shared best practices and streamlined access to many speciality services for patients at either location, according to the hospital.

Riley Polumbus, spokesperson for North Valley, says the Whitefish hospital will retain its nonprofit status and will continue to have its own board of directors and leadership team.

“There’s still a lot of ways we will have separate operations, but there’s also ways that things have already changed since the affiliation,” she said. “We’ve worked closely for a long time even before formalizing it and some of these things we’ve been doing for years.”

Whitefish will retain its Planetree philosophy, according to Polumbus. The hospital became a Planetree affiliate in 2002 following the philosophy that focuses on providing patient-centered care in a healing environment. It’s something that the hospital and its employees have long prided themselves on.

The financial backing of a larger system under Logan Health has allowed Whitefish to add new services, new technology including MAKO robotic surgery, and updated facilities, including the new physical therapy building in Columbia Falls, hospital officials note.

“Operationally, the two organizations have aligned many practices, protocols and patient care initiatives, which were most evident during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Kevin Abel, North Valley Hospital CEO. “By working together to create solutions for testing, staffing, patient care — and most recently vaccination — the operational teams became even more united.”

Changing the hospital’s name to Logan Health Whitefish reflects the connection to the Logan Health brand while recognizing the facility's geographic location and is expected to differentiate it from other hospitals across the country, according to the hospital.

The transition of the brand is expected to begin in the coming months and could take as long as six months to complete.

“Our patients expect us to continually improve quality, open up access, focus on important care transitions and deliver a good experience. This can best be done by functioning as a true system of care,” said John Flink, Chair of the Logan Health Board of Trustees, “This is a natural evolution of our relationship and I would like to thank the North Valley Board for their thoughtfulness and commitment to our future together.”

North Valley employs more than 480 people.