Northern Light Health announced Thursday it is planning to move several outpatient services in central Maine to its Inland Hospital campus on Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville, above. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

WATERVILLE — Northern Light Health is planning to move several outpatient services in central Maine to its Inland Hospital campus on Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville, the health care system said in an announcement Thursday.

The moves over the next several months are intended to reduce the number of leased properties and the cost of maintaining and operating multiple sites where services are provided, officials said.

The changes are expected to include 15 staff reductions, according to Northern Light officials.

“This sensitive work is designed to preserve local health care in the face of rising costs of doing business and stagnant reimbursement rates,” the announcement said.

“Consolidating practices and bringing more members of our clinical team together creates a deeper bench of providers to support one another and deliver patient care, creating more consistent coverage for patient appointments,” said Randy Clark, president of Inland Hospital at 200 Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville and Sebasticook Valley Hospital at 447 N. Main St. in Pittsfield.

Last month, Northern Light officials announced that beginning March 1, Women’s Health at 180 Kennedy Memorial Drive and Inland Hospital will no longer provide labor and delivery services.

Suzanne Spruce, the senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer for Northern Light Health, said Thursday that officials are working to assist those affected by the plan to relocate several outpatient services to Waterville.

“We expect many of them will find placement in open roles within the Northern Light Health (system),” she said.

Care teams and leaders are working with patients to help them understand the changes and prepare for when services are moved, Northern Light said. Before the moves, patients are to be notified of services’ new suite numbers, which are being finalized.

Northern Light Endocrinology and Diabetes Care, now at 246 Kennedy Memorial Drive on the Inland Hospital campus, is scheduled to move in March to the Medical Arts Building at 180 Kennedy Memorial Drive.

Physical Therapy Rehab and physical therapy rehab clinics now operating in Madison and Unity are scheduled to move to the Medical Arts Building in April.

The Northern Light Primary Care practice in Oakland is slated to move in May to 246 Kennedy Memorial Drive on the hospital campus, and Cardiovascular Care at 244 Kennedy Memorial Drive, also on the campus, is to move in June to the Medical Arts Building. Cardiovascular Care includes cardiac rehab and diagnostics.

Spruce said in an email that moving endocrinology and diabetes services will make room for the Oakland Primary Care practice to leave leased space in Oakland and move to 246 Kennedy Memorial Drive.

“Cardiology is being moved from 244 KMD to the (Medical Arts Building) because 244 was a leased space,” she said.

Northern Light officials said their mission is to improve the health of the people in the communities they serve.

“We will continue to look for sustainable ways to continue to provide health care to our patients and communities during these challenging times,” Clark said.

In January, Spruce said Northern Light Health’s decision to no longer provide labor and delivery services in Waterville was driven by ongoing recruiting challenges for labor and delivery providers.

The move, Spruce said, is expected to provide Northern Light time to design a new program that supports consistent access to high-quality prenatal care and labor and delivery for the communities it serves. She said she was not sure when such a program would be implemented.

The decision will leave Waterville with no birthing services. Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, or EMMC, in Bangor and health care systems in Augusta and Skowhegan said they are prepared to accept patients who will be displaced.

MaineGeneral Health’s Alfond Center for Health in Augusta is 16 miles from Waterville, while Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan is 18 miles away and EMMC in Bangor is a 62-mile drive.

Last fall, EMMC President Greg LaFrancois stepped down, followed by the resignation of Inland Hospital’s president the next day. Tricia Costigan had served as the president of Inland Hospital since May 2022.