Kalispell (Mont.) Regional Healthcare is in the midst of constructing a new gastroenterology center, the Digestive Health Institute, the Daily Inter Lake reports.
Here's what you should know:
1. The institute is a $12.9 million, two-story, 28,216-square-foot building centered around gastroenterology care.
2. The center will feature several diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy suites as well as patient diagnostic areas.
3. The center was funded in part by local physicians and Kalispell Regional.
4. The health system expects the center will be operational by August 2018.
5. Hospital officials wanted to build a gastroenterology-facing facility because of Montana's gastroenterologist shortage. The state ranks 49th in colon cancer screening and has the second highest hepatitis C rate in pregnant women nationwide.