Vincent Healthcare, Billings' other hospital, also offered support during the initial announcement. Toni Green-Cheatwood, chief medical officer of Billings Clinic, said the hospital was excited about the economic opportunity of Rocky Vista but wanted to ensure it didn't take away from other training programs. When the project was first announced, Dr.
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Rocky Vista University was established in 2006 as the nation’s first private, for-profit health sciences university to offer a professional medical degree since 1910, according to the school's website. Rocky Vista expected the start-up period in Billings to run from this year through 2023 and cost $78.6 million, provide 350 jobs to the area and generate $1.2 million in tax revenue to communities in the area, according to a news release from Big Sky Economic Development.
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His full statement is at the bottom of this story.) Rocky Vista plans to move forward without Billings Clinic, he added. (Update: David Forstein, Rocky Vista provost, said the university is investigating the comments cited by Billings Clinic and remains committed to a "diverse, inclusive and safe environment. It wasn't immediately clear whether this announcement from Billings Clinic will delay or kill the project, which was announced last month in partnership with Big Sky Economic Development. In a third instance, the hospital said a different representative of the school referred to a female Billings Clinic leader as a "token."īillings Clinic officials also said they want to ensure they can continue their partnerships with their existing training programs, including the Montana medical track at the University of Washington's multi-state medical program, Rocky Mountain College, the University of Montana, Montana State University, Montana State University-Billings and the clinic's own internal medicine residency program.
The hospital did not name the university but is most likely referring to the Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, which is working with Benefis Health Systems in Great Falls to build a school, according to The Electric in Great Falls. On two occasions, an executive with Rocky Vista "cast aspersions" on a rival proposed nonprofit medical school in Great Falls for its Jewish heritage, noting that a Jewish school may not be able to assimilate well in Montana, according to Billings Clinic. In a news release, the clinic highlighted three instances where Rocky Vista representatives made the insensitive comments. 23 to build the Montana College of Osteopathic Medicine, a 135,000-square-foot facility on a 12-acre campus off the intersection of Shiloh and Monad roads. The clinic announced Wednesday that its board of directors voted unanimously Tuesday to end all conversations with Medforth Global Healthcare Education, the private equity firm that owns Rocky Vista University. Officials at Billings Clinic have come out against a $78 million, for-profit osteopathic medical school proposed on Billings West End, expressing concerns about competition with its other medical training fields and highlighting ethnically insensitive and sexist comments made by representatives of the med school.