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Lewiston And Bangor Employees Face Uncertain Futures As Covenant Health Shifts Certain Operations

Ninety employees of St. Mary's Health System in Lewiston and St. Joseph Healthcare in Bangor face an uncertain future.

Beginning in October, parent company Covenant Health is shifting the billing, coding and medical records operations for its acute care hospitals to Ensemble Health Partners, which provides such services throughout the country. Covenant Health spokesperson Karen Sullivan says 89 of its workers in Lewiston and 65 in Bangor have been identified as serving functions that will be moving to Ensemble, and will be able to keep their jobs. That leaves 90 who haven't been placed.

Sullivan says it's possible some of those workers could find other jobs with the new company or move to other departments at St. Mary's or St. Joseph's. Covenant Health will also be providing severance packages and access to outplacement services to employees who do not make the switch.

Sullivan says Covenant is moving to Ensemble to improve their electronic health records process.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.