Hall appointed as the CEO of Bullhook Community Health Center

Editor’s note: This version corrects which Bullhook board Hall served on.

Bullhook Community Health Center announced Thursday it is appointing its interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer Kyndra Hall as its permanent CEO.

Hall said this morning that she feels honored to have been appointed to this position.

"I think we have a really great team here at Bullhook, and I am looking forward to working with them in a new capacity," she said.

She added that she feels comfortable in the position, having served as the interim CEO twice, once after the 2018 retirement of former CEO Cindy Smith, who was a driving force in the creation of the health center, and again after Smith's replacement Brian Hadlock was discharged over contractual issues in October.

"I think I have a good feel for what needs to be done," Hall said.

She said she also has the support of the staff and the Montana Primary Care Association if she has any questions concerning the job.

In the past, she said, she owned a business before working in public accounting, collecting information to help people make decisions and find paths for them to be able to move forward.

She has also been involved in several community organizations, such as the Relay for Life of North Central Montana Committee, she said, "making those touches out in the community."

Starting out, she said, there will be no immediate changes to Bullhook, although she added that health care in general is constantly changing in multiple ways.

She said that Bullhook Community Health Care recently received a substance abuse disorder mental health grant which is being used to increase care management.

"The major need right now in the community is mental health, behavioral health, substance use disorders," Hall said.

Bullhook is continuously looking at options to improve that department and how it can expand those services to patients and serve their needs.

Moving forward, Hall said, she would like to get areas like Bullhook's integrated behavioral health model, patient center and medical home model fine-tuned to help provide the best care for patients

Eventually, she said, Bullhook would like to expand and keep increasing services. She said that Bullhook already provides a variety of services and is quickly running out of space in the building.

Bullhook is a really great place to receive health care, Hall said, and has a great model with integrated care. She said the goal is to try to serve all the needs of the patient, whether it is dental, mental health, medical or substance abuse.

Hall started at Bullhook in April 2016, as CFO. She said she got involved because she had previously served on Bullhook’s Qualified Active Low-Income Community Business Board.

Seeing the event services Bullhook offers, she said, gave her great interest in being able to help people get the health care that they need and it sparked the desire to be part of Bullhook's team.

The clinic has grown and expanded immensely since its first conception early last decade.

It is the result of a study by Hill County Health Consortium in 2003 - while Smith was county health director for the Hill County Health Department - of health care needs in the county. This study found the top priority would be increasing services for low-income people and people without insurance.

The clinic first opened in 2005 as part of the Hill County Health Department, including offering a sliding-fee payment scale depending on income, as well as taking Medicare, Medicaid, Montana Healthy Kids, insurance and private payments.

After receiving a federal Community Health Center grant, it reorganized as a non-profit and opened as Bullhook Community Health Center, adding dental services in 2008.

Using grants and new-market tax credit financing, it built a new facility on the 500 Block of Fourth Street that opened in 2014.

It has since expanded, including opening a pharmacy and offering counseling services.

Smith, the health center's first CEO, retired Feb. 15, 2018.

"I think we have a great team of employees that are here for the mission of our health center and here for the patients, and so I think we can do great things," Hall said.