Northern Light Health’s new leader is confident that he can help bring long-term sustainability to the struggling health system.
The system’s new CEO and president, Dr. Guy Hudson, started last week and said he wants to build on marked improvements in the most recent fiscal year.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he said, despite the many uncertainties around health care right now.
Hudson is stepping in after Northern Light has dealt in recent years with enormous financial losses, hospital closures and a drawn-out dispute with the state’s largest health insurer. Those challenges have raised concerns about the health system, one of the largest in Maine, and its ability to continue serving the patients who rely on it.
Hudson stressed his commitment to keeping Northern Light independent, saying there has been no discussion of selling the health system.
“One of the priorities is maintaining Northern Light, its independence to serve generations to come, which means the things that we do and the things that we improve need to be long-lasting and resolute across our communities,” he said.
In terms of financial stability, he said that although “we’re not quite there yet,” he feels the health care system is starting to turn the corner.
“We’re on the upswing of our fiscal status,” Hudson said, noting that Northern Light saw improvements in the 2025 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, both financially and in terms of quality scores.
Hudson noted that the number of people visiting Northern Light hospitals is growing, “so we have to be very nimble and adaptable to be able to accommodate that.”
Hudson listed rebalancing staff as a priority. Some people are moving to new positions within the system after other positions were eliminated and the organization is working to fill gaps, including by hiring more nurses.
The organization announced last month that it was closing a walk-in care center and cutting staff by 3 percent, which included both layoffs and eliminating positions that staff had left or retired from.
Hudson says he hopes not to implement more layoffs as part of Northern Light’s work to recover from recent financial losses.
He also stressed that amid Medicaid cuts and widespread financial uncertainty for health care providers, Northern Light should play a role in advocating for rural health care in the governmental sphere.
“Northern Light can influence that,” he said. “Good, close partnerships with our elected officials, good representation in Washington, D.C., and with our federal government is paramount, because rural health care is the backbone of health care in America, and we need to make sure that that’s always a priority.”
Rural Northern Light patients face particular uncertainty right now as the health system tries to reach an agreement with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest health insurer in the state. The two organizations failed to make a deal by their contract deadline at the end of September and extended the previous contract for another month so they could continue negotiating.
Hudson said he’s sorry that the conflict is “creating angst and anxiety with our patients and our communities, but we are resolute in getting to something as quickly as we can.”
For many communities across northern and eastern Maine, Northern Light is the major caregiver and those services leaving Anthem’s network could mean many Mainers traveling farther for health services.
Hudson linked his previous career experience as well as his upbringing to his interest in rural health care.
He grew up in a small town in Indiana, which he said taught him “that the local hospital not only signifies healthcare, but it signifies community, and it also signifies a gathering place.”
The pediatric urologic surgeon worked in Oregon, Southern California and the Seattle area before becoming CEO of Swedish Health Services in Washington state, a position he held for six years. Part of his first job in Oregon entailed flying back and forth between Portland and a rural hospital in the southern part of the state, he said.
Hudson also served as chief executive of Providence’s North Division, which provides health services to the Puget Sound and Alaska, and returned to clinical practice in Idaho in 2023.
He said his recent clinical experience gives him a clear perspective on how to help Northern Light staff.
“The leadership teams, the clinicians, the nursing staff, everybody’s doing a really, really good job,” he said.
Although rural health care needs can vary a lot between communities, Hudson noted the common values he’s observed since arriving in Maine compared to other rural communities where he’s worked.
“Getting care close to home matters,” he said. “We also need to make sure that we’re here for generations to come by taking good care of the network in our rural health care areas.”
