The board of directors of North Valley Hospital voted last week to rename the facility Logan Health Whitefish — the latest step in a large rebranding effort by the health-care system formerly known as Kalispell Regional Healthcare.

North Valley partnered with the larger Kalispell Regional Medical Center in 2015, and since then the two companies have shared physicians and other clinical staff, and merged their finance, information-technology and supply-management departments.

The Kalispell-based system — which also includes dozens of clinics, outpatient facilities and specialists' offices in Montana — began rebranding as Logan Health in December and has been changing its signage and other materials. North Valley's name change further cements the affiliation between the two organizations.

The Whitefish hospital will retain its own governing board and CEO for the foreseeable future, a spokeswoman said Monday.

"This is the natural next step in what has been a beneficial relationship between the two organizations for over five years," Dr. Mirna Bowden, the board's chairwoman, said in a statement. "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."

A news release said North Valley has added services and technology, including robotics-assisted surgery, and updated facilities, such as a new physical therapy building in Columbia Falls, thanks to "the financial backing of a larger system."

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

John Flink, chairman of Logan Health's board of trustees, said that "functioning as a true system of care" will improve access to and quality of treatment.

Logan Health remains deadlocked in contract negotiations with the union representing some 650 of its nurses, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, which says the company has refused to offer reasonable wage and benefit increases and staffing improvements. Neither party has announced significant movement in the negotiations since the union mounted a three-day strike at the beginning of June.

Assistant editor Chad Sokol may be reached at 406-758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com.