Franklin Community Health Network in Farmington, Maine, has moved forward with a plan to join Portland-based MaineHealth.
FCHN, which includes 65-bed Franklin Memorial Hospital, had been looking for a strategic partner for the past six months. Executives and board members voted in favor of MaineHealth due to the system's access to technology and physicians.
MaineHealth and FCHN will now file a certificate of need application with the state and request antitrust review. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Both parties anticipate the deal will close by late 2014.
Last February, FCHN cut roughly three dozen jobs from its workforce due to growing financial losses.
Meanwhile, MaineHealth has continued to expand. Earlier this month, it acquired its first out-of-state hospital: Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H. MaineHealth also added Goodall Hospital in Sanford, Maine, last year.
MaineHealth has also been in hot water over the past year. In May, the system created a commercial accountable care organization with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which has led many state residents to criticize the resulting narrow network.
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