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Lori Dwyer is president and CEO of Penobscot Community Health Care.
We are in receipt of incredible news from Gov. Janet Mills and her leadership team. They have identified an additional $2.8 million investment in Penobscot Community Health Care through the Rural Health Transformation Program. These funds will help ensure the future of PCHC and our critical work for the people of Maine. Specifically, they will increase the support for our transition earlier this year to a new electronic medical records system and to alternative payment models.
With this investment, PCHC is no longer pursuing an imminent Chapter 11 filing. That is a significant step forward. But the next 12 months will be critical, and we have a great deal of work ahead to put PCHC on solid financial ground.
On behalf of everyone at Penobscot Community Health Care, I want to thank Gov. Mills for her leadership and her commitment to the patients we serve. The governor, her team, and the Department of Health and Human Services worked tirelessly to find a path forward. They were able to help us efficiently and in a targeted manner while requiring accountability on our part.
We know these are public dollars, and we take that very seriously. We look forward to working closely with DHHS, providing regular updates and being fully accountable for how these funds are used.
Our work is not finished. In fact, we have asked the following trusted and very experienced Mainers and community health center experts to serve on a Turnaround Advisory Council to help us recover and reinvent how we approach financial strategy so that we can best meet our mission. Among them are Dr. Guy Hudson, CEO of Northern Light Health; Troy Trejo, CEO of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Bangor; and Dr. Margaret Flinter, senior vice president and clinical director at Community Health Center Inc.
As we look ahead, I must take a moment to acknowledge PCHC’S incredible staff. Through all of this, their work has not stopped. Every day, they deliver extraordinary care to roughly 50,000 Mainers, many of whom have nowhere else to turn. They should be incredibly proud of themselves for keeping their eye on their mission. I know I am.
I also want to thank the legislators from across Maine who signed on in support of PCHC and our patients. They stood with us when it mattered. We look forward to continuing that work with the Legislature and the next governor beginning in 2027 to secure PCHC’s long-term future. Our patients deserve nothing less.