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Butte, Mont., Development Group Gives $500K Loan for New Imaging Center

Posted on: Sunday, 18 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Sep. 18--A group of doctors opening a new imaging center in Butte received a $500,000 loan from the Butte Local Development Corp. Thursday.

"We see the project as an important addition to the medical infrastructure of the community," said Dr. Keith Popovich, an internist and partner in the project.

Big Sky Imaging will open at 401 S. Alabama St. in winter and will provide diagnostic internal images such as MRIs, CT scans, X-rays and more.

The BLDC board unanimously approved a 10-year loan at 5 percent interest for the center.

"The fact that it's going to complement some of the things that St.

James Healthcare is doing and expand the delivery of medical services in the community is a very good idea," said BLDC board member Bill Kebe.

The center is a partnership of 19 doctors and physician-owned businesses.

Although it will compete with St. James' imaging services, the hospital's top official expressed support for the center.

"These are services we might not otherwise have, and they help support the health safety net of this community," said James Kaiser, the hospital's executive director. Kaiser is a BLDC board member but did not vote on the loan.

But the center, which will provide six jobs, is about more than just medicine, Popovich said. It's also about business.

It will offer patients more choices as consumers.

"Currently all of the imaging facilities in town are owned by St. James Healthcare and we believe in a little competition for price," Popovich said.

The center also could help draw new physicians to town and will supplement the incomes of the doctors involved, who face rising costs, including malpractice insurance premiums, he said.

While Popovich's malpractice insurance has never had to pay for a claim against him, his costs rose 40 percent last year and are going up another 28.8 percent this year, he said.

"We're getting squeezed," he said.

In addition to the center's loan, the BLDC approved the following loan requests Thursday:

--$420,000 for RapComm, a satellite communications company, for a new truck.

--$65,000 for Benny's Power Toys on Iron Street, for a new showroom and to refinance existing debt.

--$25,000 for 17 S. Main St. for renovations to an historic building.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Montana Standard, Butte

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Source: The Montana Standard

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