About RiverStone Health:
RiverStone Health Re-branding and Name Change:
RiverStone Health Funding:
About RiverStone Health
What is RiverStone Health?
RiverStone Health is a major player in the health-services arena and a national leader in progressive solutions to community health problems. As one of the health-services leaders in Billings, we are a quality provider of primary care and public-health services in southeastern Montana.
RiverStone Health continues to leave its imprint on our community by identifying challenges facing community health and pioneering services and programs to overcome them. By working as a team and partnering with other service providers, RiverStone Health connects community members to the right services to address their health needs.
As a quality provider of primary care and public health services, we are actively engaged in community health initiatives, issues and concerns. We HELP our communities by providing Health, Education, Leadership and Protection. Our home care and hospice, medical and dental, education and public-health services provide life, health and vitality to our communities.
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Who does RiverStone Health serve?
RiverStone Health serves everyone – individuals, families and our communities. We believe every member of our community deserves quality health services, and we are committed to connecting you to the services that are best for you.
In 2007, RiverStone Health served an average of 1,300 individuals each day through direct service. We serve our communities, as a whole, every day through our public-health services.
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When was RiverStone Health founded?
While the name RiverStone Health is new, our organization has been the bedrock of Yellowstone County public and community health services for decades. Beginning in 1974 as Yellowstone City–County Health Department, RiverStone Health continues the legacy of providing the community with high-quality health, education, leadership and protection.
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Are you a government entity?
Although fundamentally we are a governmental entity, we operate like a competitive and entrepreneurial health-services organization. RiverStone Health offers a progressive community health model that combines the power of government with the power of community vision to transform how health services are delivered.
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What is your relationship to Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare?
We often partner and collaborate with Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare on a variety of community health issues and initiatives.
However, RiverStone Health is very different from Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare. While we offer similar services, such as primary care, pharmaceutical and immunization services, RiverStone Health is not a hospital, but so much more.
RiverStone Health provides a broader range of health services that affect the overall community. Services such as restaurant inspections and emergency-preparedness planning activities are at the core of public health, but are not part of the services offered by healthcare providers.
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RiverStone Health Re-branding and Name Change
Why did you change your name?
Research showed that the name Yellowstone City–County Health Department had low name recognition, was too long and was often referred to as “the county.” To compound the problems of low name recognition, some of our programs and services were better known than the organization itself. Our name also prevented too many people from learning about other vital services that they could take advantage of, regardless of their economic circumstances.
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Why is this re-branding important?
Over the past several years, Yellowstone City–County Health Department has evolved from a small health department that was an adjunct of the county to a multi-jurisdictional health-service district that provides a broad spectrum of services in several locations. During that growth spurt, our budget increased from $5 million to more than $30 million annually.
Because RiverStone Health is an entrepreneurial organization, we get more than 50 percent of our revenue from grants and fees for services, not from county taxpayers. In fact, we have developed a new approach to a public–private partnership model that we believe is the wave of the future. This model is so successful that we had to find a better way to communicate who we are and what we do.
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Did you change your name to cover up your government status?
No. We wanted people in the community to recognize us and the services Yellowstone City–County Health Department provides, which extend beyond a typical health department. We also wanted to unify our staff under one name. Since it was founded in 1974, Yellowstone City–County Health Department has started many services and programs, each with its own name and identity. We needed to develop a single organizational identity and culture that everyone could relate to. The name RiverStone Health helped us accomplish that goal.
Yellowstone City–County Health Department is still our legal name, we will be “doing business as” RiverStone Health, and the new name will represent the public face of the organization.
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Why did you change your name and re-brand now?
Over the last several years, Yellowstone City–County Health Department went through a period of extremely rapid growth, from an annual budget of $17.5 million in 2004–2005 to nearly $30 million today. For most of that time, our focus was on the rapid expansion of vital services, such as dental and pharmacy services. We were, and still are, experts at identifying and filling needs, but during that expansion into different areas, we neglected to unify the different programs and services under a single identity.
Before Yellowstone City–County Health Department started the branding process that gave rise to the new name RiverStone Health, we evaluated the administrative structure of the organization, making sure that we were adequately staffed with people who had the appropriate education, knowledge and experience. We spent some time thinking about what the organization needed to continue our growth, and Yellowstone City–County Health Department added a visionary staff and worked with our boards to develop a long-term strategic vision. We became an organization that looked strategically at our future and how we needed to be positioned to meet that future. Determining how we want the public and our customers to feel about us was a critical piece of that strategic plan.
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How does the re-branding change your mission and services?
The re-branding initiative makes our mission and services more effective. With one identity and one brand, RiverStone employees can work toward the same goals with a shared vision for the future. Everyone — staff, volunteers and board members — will understand that RiverStone Health has a shared mission, which is “to improve life, health and safety.” For the first time, our organization is working to fulfill a shared mission, a shared vision and a set of shared values.
This focus allows RiverStone Health to better serve our communities. Community members will know who we are, what we do and where they can find us. Best of all, they will know that RiverStone Health is here to connect them to whatever health service they need or want, not just the programs or services we provide.
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RiverStone Health Funding
Where does your funding come from?
Yellowstone County tax dollars provide about 6 percent of RiverStone Health’s total budget. Fees for services account for the majority of our budget, while contracts and grants make up the remainder of our funding.
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Are county taxes paying for the branding initiative?
No, county taxes are not paying for the branding initiative. The branding initiative is being funded through a dedicated fund from our general operations budget.
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What is the RiverStone Health Foundation?
The RiverStone Health Foundation is a charitable, non-profit organization that supports RiverStone Health services through fundraising and capital campaigns. All donations are used to ensure that RiverStone Health will continue to provide accessible and quality health services. Through these gifts, community members previously unable to receive health services due to financial limitations are able to access the services they need and improve their health. At the core of RiverStone Health Foundation is the belief that every individual should have access to quality health services.
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