New $17.9 Million Heart Center Opens in Missoula

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Community Medical Center and Billings Clinic held an official ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday for the new $17.9 million Heart Center.

I spoke to Community Medical Center’s new Chief Executive Officer Greg Cook who was excited to introduce the community to their new state of the art Heart Center.

“Our mission is making communities healthier,” began Cook. “In partnership with Billings Clinic and the cardiologists that help care for patients, it's an exciting time. This is a significant investment by Life Point Health to help expand services in western Montana and really just have state-of-the-art space and state-of-the-art equipment to treat patients in the years to come.”

Cook said the new Heart Center continues the growth of Community Medical Center and Billings Clinic to serve the medical needs of western Montanans.

“It is part of an overall plan, and we're not done,” he said. “We'll continue to look for opportunities. The retirement age population in western Montana is growing significantly, and that means more cardiac care is going to be needed, we want to be the provider of choice, obviously. You know, quality is important, customer service is important, and those are all things we do well. So we're excited to treat everybody in western Montana.”

I then spoke to cardiologist Matthew Weiss who was also excited to offer state of the art cardiac care for all of western Montana.

“What it means for the community is we have more access to care,” said Weiss. “We keep growing dramatically as the community keeps growing. Population growth in western Montana has been dramatic, and there are more and more people who need cardiac services. With this building, we pronounce that we're here to deliver that and do it with state-of-the-art technology in a beautiful setting.”

Weiss also said the facility itself will bring a sense of comfort and safety to patients and their families.

“Personally, I really like the architecture, actually,” he said. “I think there's a real truth that when you're in a beautiful, physical setting, there can be emotional healing. It sounds a little cheesy, but I think it's actually true. If you look at the Cancer Center on the Community Medical Center campus, it's really the same thing. It's a beautiful building. It's a place to heal, and I think we're going to do the same thing here in the new Heart Center.”

Community Medical Center broke ground on the new Heart Center in the spring of 2023.