In a move Bridgton Hospital President Stephany Jacques says will “secure the future of healthcare in central Maine,” the Central Maine Healthcare (CMH) Board of Directors and Prime Healthcare Foundation (PHF) announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement for PHF to become the sole corporate member and parent company of Central Maine Healthcare, pending regulatory approvals.

Under the agreement, Prime Healthcare Foundation, headquartered in Ontario, California, a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2006, affiliated with Prime Healthcare and operating 14 not-for-profit hospitals in six states, would become the owner of all CMH services and facilities, which will retain their current names and local leadership. PHF will offer substantially all CMH team members positions at comparable wages and benefits, and they will honor provider and physician contracts.

CMH Chairman of the Board Devore Culver said PHF was chosen after a thorough evaluation of the system’s mission, vision, and values, and a review of their track record of investing in hospitals to improve healthcare, especially in vulnerable communities throughout the country.

“I was convinced Prime Healthcare Foundation would be the right partner for Central Maine Healthcare after meeting with their senior leaders and visiting its hospital in Woonsocket, R.I.,” he said. “We saw first-hand how Prime cares about people, invests in technology, and values community partnerships to secure the vibrant future of critical healthcare resources.”

“Prime Healthcare Foundation has made a tremendous commitment to investing in our people, our facilities and equipment, and to improving access to quality healthcare throughout central Maine,” said CMH Chief Executive Officer Steve Littleson. “As part of Prime Healthcare Foundation, we will now have the capability and the resources to attract and retain top talent, improve quality and access to care, and address unmet healthcare needs across Central Maine.”

Prime Healthcare Foundation has provided more than $3.4 billion in charity care and sponsored local and global initiatives to promote health, support medical education, provide humanitarian aid, expand access to quality compassionate care and address healthcare disparities nationally and globally.

“Prime Healthcare Foundation is a steward of a mission to improve lives and uplift communities by ensuring access to the highest quality, compassionate care when people need it the most,” said Kavitha Bhatia, MD, president and chair of the Prime Healthcare Foundation. “We look forward to welcoming the CMH staff, physicians, patients, and communities to the Prime family. Through our dedication to health equity, clinical quality and patient-centered, physician-led care, we are deeply committed to ensuring the CMH legacy continues for generations to come.”

The CMH facilities will have access to Prime Healthcare’s resources and nationally recognized leadership team that currently operates and manages 44 tax-paying and not-for-profit hospitals, more than 300 outpatient locations, and nearly 45,000 employees and affiliated physicians dedicated to providing the highest quality healthcare.

Rebecca Brakeley, MD, CMH’s interim chief medical officer, said, “Prime Healthcare Foundation’s nationally recognized commitment to quality and patient safety, as well as expanding access to medical education, is shared by our 600 medical staff providers who are and will remain dedicated to caring for people in our communities.”

Terms of the agreement include a commitment by Prime Healthcare Foundation to invest $150 million in facility improvements including investments in technology and infrastructure across the system. Charity care and community benefit programs will continue, preserving CMH’s role as a valued community partner.

“We know our team members, patients, and community supporters will have a lot of questions,” said Littleson. “Over the next several months, as we pursue regulatory approvals, we commit to communicating as much as we can, as soon as we can. Until we receive final approvals, our team members will remain focused on taking care of our patients and each other. We appreciate the support of our team members, our patients, and our community as we make this exciting partnership a reality.”

“The people we serve, and our team members who care for them, can look forward to a bright future, full of optimism about what we will do together to provide state-of-the art care in state-of-the-art facilities across central Maine.”

About Prime Healthcare and Prime Healthcare Foundation: Prime Healthcare is an award-winning health system operating 44 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in 14 states, providing over 2.6 million patient visits annually. It is one of the nation’s leading health systems with nearly 45,000 employees and physicians.

Fourteen of the Prime Healthcare hospitals are members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity.

Based in Ontario, California, Prime Healthcare is nationally recognized for award-winning quality care and has been named a Top 10 and Top 15 Health System by Truven Health Analytics. Its hospitals have been named among the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” 69 times and have received more Patient Safety Excellence Awards from Healthgrades than any other health system in the past eight years. To learn more, please visit primehealthcare.com.  

About Central Maine Healthcare: Central Maine Healthcare is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving 400,000 people living in central, western and Midcoast Maine, with over 600 physicians and advanced practice professionals in more than 40 locations. CMH’s hospital facilities include Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, a 250-bed, not-for-profit, Level III Trauma Center.

CMMC is also the central Maine base for LifeFlight of Maine, the state’s only medical helicopter.

The health system includes Bridgton Hospital and Rumford Hospital, two not-for-profit 25-bed critical access hospitals that care for rural communities. Bridgton Hospital serves the people of the Lake Region of western Maine and Rumford Hospital offers inpatient and outpatient services to Maine’s River Valley community.

CMH also includes two long-term care communities. Bolster Heights is an 84-bed assisted living facility located in the Lewiston-Auburn area, and Rumford Community Home is an 85-bed, active-living community in Rumford, offering residential care, secure dementia care, skilled rehabilitation, and long-term care nursing services.

CMH is home to Maine’s first nursing and medical imaging programs, Maine College of Health Professions, a private, not-for-profit institution of higher education, accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. To learn more, please visit www.cmhc.org.