BANGOR — Maine’s hospitals could lose hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs because of pending federal cuts.

The Maine Hospital Association said Wednesday that Medicare cuts called for under the federal deficit reduction plan will cost Maine $21 million and nearly 3,000 jobs in 2013. The cuts are scheduled to begin next year and continue until 2021.

The jobs estimate came from a new report prepared by Pittsburgh consulting firm Tripp Umbach for the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association.

Association President Steve Michaud says the cuts will negatively affect “access, quality and the local economy.”

The Bangor Daily News reports that the association says at least seven hospitals have announced layoffs of more than 125 employees already this year.