🔒MaineHealth to close labor and delivery service at Damariscotta hospital

MaineHealth said Thursday it would close inpatient labor and delivery services at the organization’s Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta.

At its Aug. 6 meeting, the MaineHealth board of trustees voted to expand gynecologic services and transition inpatient labor and delivery services from Lincoln to MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, 26 miles west, effective Dec. 18.

The board said the organization would not close any additional labor and delivery programs anywhere in the health system during the next two years.

The board said it was moving forward “with a new regional model for women’s health services.”

“By working as one regional team with MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital, we can continue providing prenatal, postpartum and gynecologic care locally while connecting patients to a larger clinical team when it is time to give birth,” said Cindy Wade, Lincoln’s president.

The decision came after several months of gathering community feedback, along with an evaluation by clinical and operational leaders of workforce realities, patient safety, access and the long-term sustainability of the service.

It’s the latest development in a string of maternal health and obstetrics service closures in recent years.

Staffing challenges

Lincoln cited low birth volume and staff recruitment as significant challenges for keeping the services. Stable physician and clinical staffing is needed to safely support a reliable 24-hour labor and delivery program, the hospital said.

Providing maternity care requires physicians, nurses, anesthesia professionals and support staff who are consistently available to respond to routine deliveries and life-threatening emergencies at any hour.

“We concluded that we could no longer consistently ensure that level of staffing and clinical coverage at Lincoln Hospital over the long term,” said Andrew Mueller, MaineHealth’s CEO.

Transition details

Mid Coast Hospital will become the primary hospital for labor and delivery services. But patients choosing MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital or another hospital will also be supported in transferring their obstetrical care.

Lincoln will continue to provide prenatal and postpartum care, including prenatal consultations, antenatal testing, obstetrical ultrasounds, postpartum care, fertility services, lactation support, childbirth education and postpartum counseling. Lincoln also plans to expand local gynecologic outpatient and surgical services.

Patients receiving prenatal care at Lincoln will continue working with their care teams to develop individualized birthing plans. The December implementation date was selected to allow patients already well into their pregnancies to maintain their existing delivery plans whenever possible and exceeds the state’s requirement to provide 120 days’ notice of the transition.

MaineHealth said it would work with affected employees to identify opportunities within the organization, including positions at Lincoln and throughout the health system.

Related efforts

MaineHealth said it would continue to participate in related initiatives that include the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies grant program; Maine’s Transforming Maternal Health initiative led by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which last year awarded Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services nearly $17 million to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes for Maine people, to be administered over 10 years; and statewide collaborations focused on workforce development, emergency preparedness, simulation training, regional partnerships and models of care.

MaineHealth called on the next governor and Legislature to bring together hospitals, clinicians and other stakeholders to identify solutions to the challenges of labor and delivery services in rural communities.