To Our Patients with Anthem Coverage

I’m pleased to share that we have reached an agreement with Anthem, Inc., that will allow Maine Medical Center to remain in the insurer’s care provider network and help to sustain the level of care our communities expect from MaineHealth and our flagship hospital Maine Medical Center.

You are receiving this notice because our records indicate that, as a MaineHealth patient, you have received care using Anthem insurance one or more times in the past three years.

Please know that we did not take lightly our decision earlier this year to remove Maine Medical Center from the Anthem network. We know for many of you, the prospect of losing in-network access to the region’s premier medical center was a source of worry.

We did this because we believed continuing our previous business relationship with Anthem would have put us at grave financial risk, threatening our ability to provide needed care in the communities we serve in Maine and New Hampshire. We also took care to provide this notice many months in advance so that our patients, their employers and other plan sponsors would have time to prepare for the possibility that Maine Medical Center wouldn’t be in the Anthem network.

Since that time, we have remained in discussions with Anthem, and the two sides were eventually able to craft a new agreement aimed at addressing the outstanding issues. We are hopeful that we can now move forward with a more productive and cooperative relationship with Anthem.

Importantly, this new agreement supports our commitment to continue to provide access to high-quality, affordable care in our communities at a time when the entire health care industry is under tremendous pressure. As the pandemic evolves to an endemic phase, we are dealing with an unprecedented demand for our services, as many of you seek out care that was delayed. This comes amid an economy that features a severe shortage of workers, especially in the health care sector.

It is important during these challenging times that we be able to work with our payers, and this new agreement with Anthem is an example of the kind of cooperation that will be needed to maintain access to high-quality care and achieve our vision of “Working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.”

Please know that, as we work through these challenges, our commitment to our patients will be steadfast.