Lewiston, Maine-based Central Maine Healthcare, which Prime Healthcare Foundation acquired in February, issued a termination notice to the physician group that staffs emergency departments at its three hospitals.
BlueWater Emergency Partners, based in Brunswick, Maine, will stop providing emergency medicine services at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Bridgton (Maine) Hospital and Rumford (Maine) Hospital on Jan. 12, 2027, the group told Becker’s. BlueWater provides about 35 clinician full-time equivalents across the three EDs, including physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
BlueWater said it received the notice before there had been “a substantive opportunity to discuss potential modifications to the long-term structure of the agreement.” Talks afterward did not produce a deal.
“Our understanding is that the issues primarily involved the contractual and economic structure of the relationship rather than the performance of our clinicians or the quality of care being delivered,” BlueWater said.
In a statement to Becker’s, Central Maine Healthcare said it is “evaluating the legacy contract” and is in talks with BlueWater and other national emergency physician groups, including Vituity. The system said that whatever the outcome, “most physicians that have provided ED services at Central Maine Healthcare will continue to do so with the firm that is selected.”
BlueWater said it does not include noncompete clauses in its employment agreements. Each clinician will decide where to work, and the group said it is helping them find roles within BlueWater and elsewhere.
On Jan. 1, 2025, when BlueWater took over the EDs, they had significant staffing gaps and relied heavily on locum tenens physicians, the group said. Since then, BlueWater said it rebuilt the physician workforce, built up an NP and PA team, ended routine use of locums and cut left-without-being-seen rates and door-to-provider times by about half.
“We have strong ties to the region and a great reputation, yet it took us nearly two years to fill 17 vacancies,” BlueWater said.
The contract change follows other shifts since the Prime deal closed Feb. 16, including more than 500 staff departures. Prime replaced the system’s CEO one day after the acquisition and committed $150 million over five years for facilities, services and infrastructure.
BlueWater said staffing after Jan. 12 “will be the responsibility of Prime, Central Maine Healthcare, and their chosen emergency medicine partner.”
Maine Public first reported the termination.
