This is an historic time for Blue Hill Memorial Hospital. We are celebrating our 80th birthday this year and over the past months, we've heard stories about the people who founded this beloved institution and made it what it is today. We also heard stories about what Blue Hill Memorial Hospital means to people, has meant to people over its history. Many of the stories are profoundly moving and personal - as healthcare tends to be - those private moments when our world turns on its axis and time slows down to make us focus on what really matters.
It is our responsibility and privilege to preserve the work of generations before us. We do not take this charge lightly. We have prided ourselves on being an independent rural healthcare system, supported by our community with kindness, determination, hard work, and passion.
I have our heritage and future in mind when I share this exciting news with you: last night, the Blue Hill Memorial Hospital Board and the Blue Hill Memorial Hospital Foundation Board voted unanimously to approve our becoming a member hospital of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems.
Also last night, the EMHS Board voted unanimously to accept BHMH as the next EMHS affiliate.
As a gift to our community and our patients, we mean to preserve this hospital and the healthcare system it supports by ensuring our future for another 80 years. We believe that our affiliation with Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems will help us preserve this hospital and fulfill our mission of providing healthcare of outstanding quality with personal attention close to home.
This is a decision that will affect our health system and communities for years to come. I would like to thank our trustees and committee members, who have labored mightily and wisely to craft an agreement with EMHS that will afford us the benefits of affiliation while maintaining the highest possible degree of autonomy and local control.
We are entering this partnership with EMHS for three main reasons. The first is to improve the quality of care we offer to the community. The second is to increase access to health services close to home. The third is to provide for our economic stability.
To survive in the future, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital will need clinical, financial, political, technological and human resources. The economics of health care will become more challenging with time, forcing efficiencies that can only be obtained by significant sharing of costs and services with other hospitals. Increasing expectations of clinical quality, continuity of care, and the need for shared information systems will require small hospitals to obtain significant resources from some larger entity. We think the best path for us is through a closer affiliation with EMHS.
In addition, through this agreement, BHMH will:
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Keep local control of our facilities, assets and endowments
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Preserve our local boards of directors and local governance
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Maintain our own local management team, reporting to the BHMH CEO
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Support our local, strong, active medical staff in our four primary care clinics: Bucksport Family Medicine, Castine Community Health Services, Blue Hill Family Medicine, Island Family Medicine.
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Continue to look for collaborative opportunities with Maine Coast Memorial Hospital and Mount Desert Island Hospital, especially in the joint recruitment of medical staff.
We will now enter the "due diligence" phase of the affiliation process, in which both EMHS and BHMH will examine each other's books and records and apply to the Attorney General, the Internal Revenue Service, Medicare, and other regulatory bodies for approval of the affiliation. We expect this process to take up to 6 months.
As we begin a new era, I am very grateful all who care about this hospital - our employees, medical staff, trustees, and community. I cannot imagine a more talented and dedicated group of people to enter this new alliance between EMHS and BHMH. Now we will all work together for our patients and community, for this beloved hospital, to preserve what we value most of our history and achieve our best hopes for the future. |
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