Agreement Expands Clinical Specialty Services for Lewiston-Auburn
St. Mary’s Health System and MaineHealth officials are pleased to formally announce the expansion of their longstanding clinical affiliation to provide an enhanced array of high-quality specialty care services in the Lewiston-Auburn community. The announcement follows months of discussion and planning between the two organizations focused on providing greater access to much-needed specialty services in the area.
“We have worked with MaineHealth to assess our community’s current and future needs,” says Steven Jorgensen, president of St. Mary’s Health System. “We believe the expanded specialty services we are now able to offer will help us improve the health of our community by making care more accessible locally. It will also strengthen our recruiting efforts and make our community more attractive to businesses that may be looking to expand or relocate here.”
According to St. Mary’s officials, expanded services, beginning with general surgery, cardiology and cancer care will be provided by MaineHealth specialists on St. Mary’s campus in Lewiston.
“St. Mary’s Health System and MaineHealth share a deep commitment to serving Maine and providing the very best care and experience possible to patients and their families,” says Andrew T. Mueller, MD, chief executive officer of Maine Health. “By bringing new specialists and services from MaineHealth to the Lewiston-Auburn community, we can ease the burden on patients who would otherwise have to travel outside the community for certain specialty care and services.”
Over the past 132 years, St. Mary’s has grown and evolved to meet the Lewiston-Auburn community’s unique healthcare needs, expanding from a single hospital to a fully integrated health system with numerous primary care and specialty physician practices. Through the expanded clinical affiliation between St. Mary’s and MaineHealth, residents of Lewiston-Auburn will be able to access the care they need without having to leave the health system or community.
“Our community faces some critical health challenges that we are working to address through our expanded affiliation and long-term investments in community health,” says Jorgensen. “In addition to increased poverty and uninsured rates, we see a higher prevalence of some serious health conditions in Androscoggin County, including cardiac and pulmonary health issues caused by numerous preventable and unpreventable factors. We are excited to work alongside MaineHealth to offer our community and patients access to an expanded array of highly-trained specialists, beginning with general surgery, cardiology and cancer care.”
To learn more about the expanded services that are now available on the Lewiston campus of St. Mary’s Health System or to schedule an appointment, please click here.