North Valley squeaker

Good news came to the Flathead from Sen. Max Baucus' office this week.

Apparently all those letters and phone calls paid off. The federal government will grant North Valley Hospital the critical access designation it needs to continue with plans to build a new facility for the North Valley at Highway 40 and U.S. Highway 93.

Word from Baucus is that the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a ruling favoring the hospital's critical care access designation. The designation will enable the hospital to go through with a $26 million federal Housing and Urban Development loan for the new facility.

With the hospital already committed to building at the new site, losing critical care designation couldn't have come at a worse time. On top of that, North Valley Hospital is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

North Valley CEO Craig Aasved credited Sens. Baucus and Conrad Burns and Rep. Denny Rehberg, along with support from the community for pushing through the critical care designation.

It's not a done deal yet-there's a 60-day comment period before the Medicare-Medicaid ruling is final-but the outlook is favorable.