1. Benefis Health System is a not-for-profit community asset governed by a 13-member local board of directors.
   
   
2. Benefis is locally owned and controlled.
   
   
3. Benefis is the biggest non-government employer in Cascade County and in its service area.
   
   
4. Benefis’ service area covers 44,814 square miles – or 14 counties in Northcentral Montana. This service area has a population of approximately 225,000 people and is bigger than Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont combined!
   
   
5. Benefis Hospitals is an American College of Surgeons-verified Level II Trauma Center – one of only four in the state and 149 in the entire country.
   
   
6. Benefis operates 1.4 million square feet of property located throughout Great Falls. The property covers more than 148 acres.
   
   
7. Benefis pays $301,334 in property tax.
   
   
8. Benefis is the largest provider of Medicaid in the state, providing more than 15 percent of all Medicaid patient days.
   
   
9. In 2007 Benefis Health System:
• Saw 38,463 patients in the ER.
• Delivered 1,413 babies.
• Performed 8,558 surgeries in our state-of-the-art, voice-activated Operating Rooms.
• Treated 125,932 patients on an outpatient basis.
• Transported Mercy Flight patients on 274 fixed-wing flights and 448 helicopter flights.
  
  
10. In 2007, Benefis paid $111 million to 2,829 employees in compensation and benefits. Benefis’ total operating expense in the 2007 was $219 million.
    
    
11. Benefis’ 2007 operating margin was 3.4 percent. A healthy not-for-profit community hospital needs a 3 percent to 5 percent margin.
    
    
12. There are 202 members of the Benefis medical staff, representing 41 specialties.
    
    
13. Benefis Health System has more than 550 hard-working and dedicated volunteers. In 2007 volunteers for Benefis Health System gave a total of 89,144 hours and $17,000 in donations. Volunteers made 1,800 baby hats, 120 baby blankets and 100 lap blankets for dialysis patients.
    
    
14. The Benefis Healthcare Foundation was created in 1998 upon the merger of the Montana Gift of Life Foundation and Montana Deaconess Foundation. Of the $29.4 million the Foundation has raised in its first decade, more than 75 percent, or $22.4 million, has gone back into the community. Here’s a look at recent giving:
• In 2007, a total of 564 patients stayed free of charge at the Foundation’s two Gift of Life Housing Centers. The facility has housed 3,543 patients and their families since it opened in 1991.
• The Foundation’s Angel Fund assists families who have a child with a catastrophic illness. In 2007, the Angel Fund distributed $32,750 to 65 families in need.
• The Foundation’s “Caring for our Own” program provides financial support for Benefis Health System employees and volunteers with emergency needs. In 2007, a total of 80 families received assistance in the amount of $51,706.
• The Foundation’s Healthcare Scholarship Program awarded scholarships to 27 applicants in 2007, totaling $111,703.
• In 2007, Benefis Healthcare Foundation distributed nearly $1.5 million to assist a variety of health care services and programs throughout Northcentral Montana.
  
  
15. Benefis Hospitals is beating state and national infection rates in the surgical arena. The overall surgical site infection rate for all surgeries at Benefis was 0.39 percent in 2007. For the first half of 2008 the overall surgical site infection rate is 0.48 percent. That's only one-fifth the national surgical site infection rate of 2.6 percent.
    
    
16. Benefis is a mission driven, strategy-led, locally governed community Regional Health System. It includes:
• Benefis Hospitals – two campuses (with 358 licensed acute care beds)
• Extended Care/Skilled Nursing Center (146 beds)
• Sletten Cancer Institute (freestanding 54,000 sq. ft. outpatient cancer center)
• Spectrum Medical (Home Care and DME)
• Peace Hospice (freestanding 12-bed Hospice House)
• Benefis Physician Associates (Physician Corp-Employed Physicians)
• Benefis Employee Health Plan
  
  
17. Benefis Health System is supported in mission, purpose and service by:
• Benefis Healthcare Foundation (separately incorporated and governed by the Foundation Board), through:
• Philanthropy
• Endowments
• Capital Campaigns
• Gift of Life Housing (both campuses)
• Benefis Health System Volunteers
• Hospitals
• Nursing Home
• Hospice
• Cancer Institute
• Gift of Life Housing
  
  
18. Benefis partners with the following joint ventures:
• The Peak Health & Wellness Center (fitness facility, Benefis 51%)
• West Campus Imaging (with GFOA, Benefis 50%)
• Treasure State PHO (with independent physician community, Benefis 50%)
• New West (Benefis 1%)
• Spectrum Home Solutions (Benefis 50 2/3%)
  
  
19. Affiliations, memberships and management arrangements include:
• Affiliations:
• Northcentral Montana Healthcare Alliance (14 member hospitals)
• Montana Independents Health Alliance (six member hospitals)
• Mountain States Reciprocal Risk Retention Group (professional liability insurance captive; 17 hospitals)
• VHA Mountain States (38 members and 40 affiliates in seven states)
• Huntsman Cancer Institute Affiliation
• McLaughlin Research Institute Affiliation
• Memberships:
• VHA/Novation Group Purchasing
• Montana Hospital Association
• American Hospital Association
• United Methodist Association
• Governance Institute
• Spirit of Women
• Management agreements:
• Management contracts with Community Hospitals in Fort Benton
• Benefis Heights LLC (manages Benefis' Outpatient Surgery)
• Diversified Therapies (manages Outpatient Wound Care)
• ARAMARK (manages Benefis' Food Service, Laundry and Housekeeping)

If you have any questions about Benefis Health System, or this website, please email us. We want to hear from you!