Central Maine Medical Center must maintain its trauma center certification or it cannot move forward with its planned sale to Prime Healthcare Foundation.
The Lewiston-based hospital announced it would drop the designation at the beginning of December for financial reasons.
A spokesperson for the state's Department of Health and Human Services says the Lewiston hospital must either maintain its designation or Prime Healthcare Foundation will need to re-establish it.
Prime has until December 21 to ask the state to reconsider the requirement.
Spokesperson Mark Reece says they're reviewing the state's conditions and that "Prime Healthcare Foundation and Central Maine Healthcare will continue to work collaboratively with state officials."
The California-based organization is the non-profit branch of Prime Healthcare, which came under fire earlier this year after it ended trauma certification at a hospital it purchased in Illinois.
Maine has two other trauma centers: Maine Medical Center in Portland and Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. State Emergency Medical Services requires that patients with serious injuries be transported to a trauma center if travel time is less than 45 minutes. Otherwise, patients should be treated at the closest hospital.
Central Maine Medical Center has said it's preserving trauma care, but dropping certification will save the hospital roughly a half a million dollars in administrative costs.
