Benefis to Shut Great Falls Clinic, Cut Behavioral Health Services
Benefis Health System will close its northwest Great Falls clinic starting Dec. 19, consolidating family medicine and urgent care to its east campus, and will discontinue a 20-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit and all behavioral health services including outpatient counseling, psychiatry and psychology. Patients needing behavioral health care will be referred to outside providers such as the Center for Mental Health and Shodair Children's Hospital, with the transition continuing into 2027. An internal memo cited financial pressure, noting 75% of Benefis patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, alongside a nationwide 5.1 million drop in Medicaid enrollment from 2025 to 2026 and potential work-requirement impacts on roughly 71,000 Montanans. Benefis has not said whether staff positions will be cut.