Providing great patient care while ensuring Bangor’s largest hospital is financially stable despite recent turmoil is the goal of the facility’s new president.
Ava Collins became the president of Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in late February after serving as the interim president since October.
She takes over the flagship hospital as the health care system navigates decreasing credit ratings, administrative changes and the end of some services, including labor and delivery at Northern Light’s Waterville hospital. Despite all of the challenges, Collins said she believes the future of the Bangor hospital is positive.
Collins originally joined Northern Light in June as the head of oncology. She was named interim president after Gregory LaFrancois stepped down from the role amid system-wide leadership changes. She has worked in health care her whole career with 25 years in executive roles, most recently at Tenet Healthcare in Massachusetts.
Ensuring the hospital provides quality patient care is Collins’ primary concern, but it must be done in a way that keeps the hospital financially stable, she said.
Changes in how the hospital provides care and its cost structure are part of how EMMC will find financial stability, Collins said. Those changes are so they are “good stewards of our resources, our supplies, our pharmaceuticals, our labor.”
One of those changes to save money included high-level administrators leaving their positions in the fall. Financial stability also means the hospital will grow in controlled ways, such as the ongoing expansion of the cardiology and women’s services departments, Collins said.
“I would say that our focus is on providing high-quality, safe care, number one,” Collins said. “Of course, we have to ensure that we’re financially stable in order to carry out that mission, right? But our number one focus is the patient.”
The hospital staff need to be vigilant about spending money, the strategy of care and ensuring efficient processes are followed, she said.
About 66 percent of patients at the Bangor hospital and across the system are insured through Medicare and Medicaid programs. Rising inflation and the cost of providing care without increasing government payments is an ongoing issue.
Collins said she is “concerned” about the federal government potentially cutting more funding.
“There’s discussions right now at the federal level for Medicare and Medicaid payments in the future, already looking at what the next 10 years will look like from a funding perspective,” she said. “Significant reductions are being projected. That is a concern for us here and it’s a concern for all hospitals.”
Even with the recent staffing changes and the looming funding cuts, Collins said she is optimistic about the future and that patients will continue to come first.
“I think the future is bright for Northern Light and Eastern Maine Medical Center,” Collins said. “Our focus is based on our mission and our mission is to improve the health of the patients and the communities we serve. We’ve never wavered from that mission despite challenges that all of health care faces.”
