Fort Kent-based Northern Maine Medical Center will cut its children's behavioral health unit and has applied for a critical access designation to address financial issues, The County reported Sept. 25.
The seven-bed child and adolescent inpatient behavioral health unit has roughly 15 to 20 local admissions per year, with 130 extra admissions coming from outside the hospital's service area, officials said in a Sept. 23 town council meeting. Cutting the program would help the hospital stay afloat amid financial challenges.
"[The child psych unit] loses us money, but we looked at it as providing a service, a regional resource. So it's unfortunate, but we have to close it," hospital CEO Jeff Zewe said during the meeting.
The hospital's four-person behavioral team will be transferred to other positions in the system and the nine-bed adult behavioral unit will remain open.
The hospital is still waiting on federal approval for critical access designation, which, once received, could bring the hospital about $3 million more annually.