First of all, a very Merry Christmas to friends near and far. There’s no better place to live, work and play than right here and this year, thanks to private homeowners and businesses, the entire peninsula went all out to welcome the many visitors enjoying the spectacular Gardens Aglow exhibit at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and took on a truly magical appearance.

While this isn’t a good time of the year to be negative, we will be ending the old year and beginning the new one with a major concern:Further loss of local control. MaineHealth, the parent company of Maine Medical Center and 11 other hospitals with nonprofit organizations, including LincolnHealth, our own Miles and St. Andrews, is proposing to merge all of the 12 medical facilities under its umbrella into one non-profit operation overseen by a single voting board, presumably with members from around the state.  LincolnHealth’s own board would no longer make decisions but only serve in an advisory capacity, with MaineHealth controlling all 12 medical facilities.MaineHealth feels that consolidating all 12 into one giant non-profit would streamline operations and be fairer and more efficient. Profits from financially stable operations like LincolnHealth and others would conceivably go directly to MaineHealth and could then be distributed to less successful medical facilities. At least three of MaineHealth’s  hospitals, Pen Bay, Franklin and Southern Maine, are reportedly operating in the red.

Does MaineHealth really believe that they can convince us that a super non-profit board can more efficiently operate our local medical facilities?Right now, each medical facility manages its own budget and oversees its operation.If we’re reading the handwriting on the wall correctly, the odds are good that health care facilities like our own, running in the black, will be sharing our profits with other less successful medical operations around the state. So much for working your butt off to insure you have a well-run, financially stable, operation.Every time another of these proposals surfaces which favors pooling our resources and dividing the pie, we have to pinch ourselves and try to remember that we do, indeed, live in a democracy despite constant suggestions that we give up local control. It’s discouraging.

MaineHealth says they’re open to comments from all of the medical facilities which would be forced to relinquish control, since they want “everyone to come on board’’ before making a final decision. We’re hoping it isn’t like some of the past announcements which are made public after it’s really already a done deal.

We’re all for seeing MaineHealth try to help less successful hospitals get back on firmer ground, but asking all twelve health care centers under its umbrella to accept the responsibility isn’t the answer.  Keep your eyes and ears open, folks.