Parkview hospital files for Ch. 11, plans merger with Mid Coast Hospital
Photo / Tory Ryden
Parkview Adventist Medical Center.
Two Brunswick hospitals announced Tuesday that they are putting aside their decades-long competition to combine health care services in the Midcoast region.
Under a proposed Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan filed Tuesday morning in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland, Parkview Adventist Medical Center plans to enter into a transaction with Mid Coast Health Services involving the purchase of certain assets, the assumption of certain liabilities and the preservation of the faith-based Adventist health care mission on the Parkview campus.
The proposal is subject to court approval. Both organizations have already consulted with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Maine Attorney General to assure compliance with all state laws and regulations.
The announcement represents a significant pivot in the two Brunswick hospitals’ relationship and signals the end of Central Maine Healthcare Corp.’s bid to take over Parkview — a move that Mid Coast Health Services vigorously opposed during the state’s certificate-of-need process in 2012 on the grounds that a formal merger between Parkview and Lewiston-based CMHC would trigger a "medical arms race" in the Midcoast region’s health care market.
“We feel we can be stronger together by realigning our services,” Lois Skillings, CEO and president of Mid Coast Health Services, told Mainebiz in a phone interview just before noon Tuesday. “This has been something I’ve felt all along should happen. We have a shared vision of providing high-quality, locally delivered care. We are two beloved local health care organizations. We serve the same community.”
Parkview CEO and President Randee Reynolds, who joined Skillings in the conference call with Mainebiz, said the proposal isn’t so much a merger as it is a realignment of health care services. He pointed out that Mid Coast and Parkview already have been working together on a number of local preventive care and wellness initiatives, such as childhood obesity and diabetes.
“Coming together will help clarify our shared vision,” Reynolds said. “My administrative team and I are committed to making sure this realignment process and transition goes without a hitch.”
Both Reynolds and Skillings affirmed that there would be no layoffs resulting from the consolidation and that all of Parkview’s employees, including the senior management team, would become employees of Mid Coast Health Services. Skillings noted that Mid Coast Hospital has experience in consolidating hospital staffs, stemming from its creation in 1991 following the merger of Bath Memorial and Brunswick’s Regional Memorial hospitals, and anticipates that normal attrition will take care of any redundancies that might occur.
Skillings said the management teams of Mid Coast and Parkview have been discussing the consolidation plan since late May. Parkview’s board of directors voted Monday to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, setting the stage for the Tuesday morning filing at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland. In its court filing, Parkview indicated it could no longer sustain its contractual arrangement with CMHC while also fulfilling its local health care mission.
“After years of change in the health care industry and increasing financial challenges, Parkview has reached a point where it can no longer serve its mission as a stand-alone hospital and is now seeking a new opportunity with Mid Coast Hospital to advance a common vision to serve the local care needs of Midcoast Maine long into the future,” Bob Cundiff, chairman of Parkview Adventist Medical Center’s board of directors, said in the press release announcing the Chapter 11 filing and proposed consolidation.
“While so many Maine communities continue to grapple with the loss of local health care options, our combined strength and spirit of partnership will serve as a living example of how local community organizations can come together to solve difficult problems and preserve convenient access to quality care,” Barbara Reinertsen, chairwoman of Mid Coast Health Services board of directors, said in the release.
Under the proposal, the new Mid Coast – Parkview Health System will consolidate inpatient and emergency services on the Mid Coast Hospital campus east of Cook’s Corner and utilize the Parkview campus several miles away for physician practices, a walk-in clinic, as well as radiology, laboratory, ambulatory testing and surgery, oncology, hematology, infusion services, physical, occupational and speech therapy services, and community health and wellness programs.
Parkview will close its emergency department and acute inpatient care this Thursday at 8 p.m., the release stated. Local emergency services after that date will be provided solely at Mid Coast Hospital at 123 Medical Center Drive in Brunswick.
Parkview, a 55-bed, acute care nonprofit hospital that opened in 1959, has approximately 185 employees. Mid Coast Health Services oversees a full-service 92-bed hospital, a diverse medical group, a senior health center and home health care services. It has roughly 1,800 employees, according to Skillings.
CMHC initially sought an one-year extension in its 2012 takeover proposal after the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in January 2013 requested a feasibility study of the proposed merger. Then, in October 2013, CMHC withdrew its takeover plan, complaining that state regulators dramatically shortened its timeline for completing the feasibility study.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the comments of Mid Coast CEO and President Lois Skillings and Parkview CEO and President Randee Reynolds.
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