(Riverton, WY) – The Riverton Medical District (RMD) officially submitted its loan application for the USDA Community Facilities Program last week – a decision is anticipated in September.
The application, which took longer than originally anticipated, will now go through three USDA offices (State, Regional and National) before it is either approved or denied.
RMD has worked on the loan application with the Wyoming USDA Office in Casper for about a year and submitted required documents as they were completed in order to expedite the State review process.
Rounding out the application process last week, a few Wyoming USDA representatives and RMD organizers met on Thursday. The meeting included a preliminary visit to the planned hospital site which is located at the Eastern Shoshone Business Park near Walmart.
Corte McGuffey, of the RMD, shared it was a good meeting and they are excited to finally have the application come together.
The State office began its complete review of the application this week and will make sure everything is in order before sending it on for Regional review. RMD is hopeful the application makes it to the National desk by mid-August.
Lorraine Werner, a Wyoming USDA Program Director, shared they should know the outcome of their loan request in early September.
McGuffey shared the not-for-profit Billings Clinic, with who they intend to affiliate and clinical partner, was instrumental in getting the application submitted.
Now that the application is complete, RMD will continue working with the Billings Clinic on hospital design and have started looking into hospital governance.
“We have been so focused on the application, and now we need to catch up on other important details like hospital operation,” he continued.
RMD has a meeting in the coming weeks with the board from the Beartooth Billings Clinic in Red Lodge, Montana. They have a similar ownership structure and have had success in how they operate their hospital, McGuffey explained.
County 10 will keep you updated with the latest RMD news.
To read all of County 10’s previous and future coverage of the Riverton Medical District, click here.