Northern Light Health

After the closure of Northern Light's Inland Hospital and the state's budget stalemate, concerns rise about whether hospitals have the funds to continue operating through the turbulence.

Credit rating agency S&P Global said the downgrade reflects persistent operating losses.

Spokesperson Suzanne Spruce said the decision was necessary due to recruiting challenges.

The presidents of Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Inland Hospital in Waterville, and the Northern Light Foundation have all resigned.

The hospital company is no longer using desflurane gas in surgery.

The health system has notified the towns of Eddington, Etna, Dedham, Dixmont, Glenburn, Kunduskeag, and Newburgh that it will start charging $17 per resident for ambulance services beginning in the new year.

Maine's second-largest health care provider is partnering with a historically Black medical school to place medical students in clinics across the state.

Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center is receiving $16 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the cost of hiring temporary staff during the COVID pandemic.

The health system announced today that it is ending its universal masking policy across its medical facilities statewide. The system says that masks will still be required in certain areas, such as cancer care centers.

Maine hospitals endured a tough year in 2022, according to a variety of recent data and financial disclosures. The picture has somewhat improved for them in recent months, but it will be hard for them to fully bounce back from the deep-rooted problems that have driven many into the red.