Mayo hospital merger advances, while some residents sue to stop it

File Photo / Maureen Milliken The merger of Mayo Regional Hospital, shown here, and Northern Light Health received a second approval from the Mayo board last week. At the same time, a group of residents and the town of Cambridge have sued to prevent the deal from going forward.

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By Staff

Mayo Regional Hospital received another endorsement in its ongoing merger with Northern Light Health, the state’s second-largest health care system. But some local residents are suing to stop the deal.

Directors of Hospital Administrative District No. 4, the quasi-public agency that owns and runs the 25-bed hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, approved the merger in a required second, procedural vote. After deciding in February, by a vote of 15-3, to proceed toward a merger agreement, the board on Dec. 18 allowed the completion of the merger by a 14-1 vote, according to a news release.

Northern Light’s board was also required to take a second vote on the merger agreement, and approved it unanimously earlier this month.

However, both green lights are contingent on the merger receiving a certificate of need from the state Department of Health and Human Services. That could happen in the next couple of months, Mayo President and CEO Marie Vienneau said in the release.

“If the [certificate] is granted, that will essentially be the final step to make sure that people who have come to count on the care at Mayo Regional Hospital will continue to be able to access that care here in Dover-Foxcroft,” she said.

Not so fast, say the town of Cambridge and 33 residents from other communities served by Mayo.

In a suit filed Thursday at Somerset County Superior Court, the plaintiffs say the directors of HAD No. 4 violated its charter by entering the merger agreement without first holding votes at town meetings of all the 13 communities that together own Mayo. The district also illegally used public funds “to promote a partisan position and/or for the benefit of a private entity,” according to the suit.

The suit seeks to bar any further steps in the merger agreement and to prevent DHHS from issuing the certificate of need, as well as unspecified damages.