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Northeast Health
to acquire
Mid-Coast Mental Health
(October
2005 Issue)
By Elinor Nelson
Northeast Health, a community healthcare system based in Rockport,
Maine, is set to take over Mid-Coast Mental Health Center, a 40-year-old
community mental health center providing outpatient and residential
treatment and services in nine different offices and residential
sites in Maine's Knox and Waldo counties. Mid-Coast's main office
is in Rockland.
Northeast Health, a nonprofit healthcare umbrella company, includes
Penobscot Bay Medical Center, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice,
Penobscot Bay Physicians and Associates, Quarry Hill and the Knox
Center for Long-Term Care. With an 85-member medical staff offering
25 specialties and a 1,200 member professional and support staff,
Northeast views Mid-Coast Mental Health as a means to expanding
its services.
"We are excited about this," says Judy Kelley, chairperson of Northeast's
Board of Trustees. "Increasing access to mental health care will
provide a real benefit to the community and the patients we serve."
Northeast works with a $100 million annual budget while Mid-Coast
has an $8.5 million annual budget and employs about 170 people.
They project a potential annual cost savings of $150,000, but foresee
no staff reductions or interruption of mental health care for patients.
Mid-Coast Mental Health had approached Northeast Health in January
of this year regarding the possibility of joining Northeast, and
a steering committee comprised of members of both boards spent six
months deliberating the arrangement. In August, the full boards
of each company voted to proceed with the acquisition. They expect
the formal acquisition process to be completed by year's end.
Lucia Hatch, president of the Mid-Coast board, says, "By joining
together, our clients will have greatly improved access to substance
abuse services. Coordination of care among mental health, substance
abuse and primary care services, as well as communications among
providers, will be streamlined and enhanced."
Northeast and Mid-Coast had already been regularly collaborating
on mental health patient care; they look forward to a greater continuity
of care between Mid-Coast and two of Northeast's facilities, Psychiatric
Addictions and Recovery Center at Penobscot Bay Medical Center and
Choice Skyward, which provides education, evaluation and outpatient
substance abuse counseling.
Dan Bennett, executive director of Mid-Coast, foresees greater
convenience for patients as well. "A primary care physician's office
can be a gateway that provides a seamless transition to mental health
care," he explains, describing a possible situation where an adolescent
in distress might confide in his or her pediatrician. After an examination
ruling out physical causes, the doctor could offer, "I have a therapist
who is working with me. Let's go down the hall and meet with her."
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