Northern Light Health has reached a deal with Community Health Options that the nonprofit insurer says will lower the cost of care for its 34,000 policyholders in Maine.

Joanne Lauterbach, Community Health Options’ chief financial officer, wrote in an email that members seeking services at Northern Light Health’s nine hospitals and more than 100 health care facilities also will see a more efficient payment method.

This will make it so “a patient’s entire hospital stay is approved once they are admitted and diagnosed with a condition,” Lauterbach said, requiring less back-and-forth for prior approvals.

“Members don’t have to wait in the hospital for tests or procedures to be approved, and providers can move forward with necessary care,” she wrote. “There are fewer delays, and less administrative costs, leading to increased efficiency for all involved.”

Northern Light Health’s providers will now be the preferred providers on Community Health Options’ tiered health maintenance plans, which means preferred or lower cost sharing for members. Lauterbach said the company is looking to reduce costs across the state, and particularly in northern Maine.

The agreement is a win for increasing rural health access, James Rohrbaugh, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Northern Light Health, said in a news release.

“It’s always inspiring to work alongside an organization that understands the needs of patients here in Maine — our neighbors and community members,” he wrote, “and together, share a commitment to both sustainability and access to health care services in our rural communities.”

The move for Northern Light Health follows months of halted contract negotiations with Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Anthem Insurance, which the hospital system broke off Aug. 15, citing problems with withheld payments and other difficulties. If the deal does not work out, hospital leaders say, approximately 30,000 Mainers would be out of network for their primary care provider.

As many as 50,000 Anthem members have used at least one type of service at Northern Light facilities over the past year, said Jim Turner, spokesperson for Anthem.

Northern Light has claimed that Anthem’s profit margin increased by 9.4% in Maine last year, while only increasing its payment for the hospital system’s services by an average of 1.5% in recent years.

Anthem officials say the hospital system is being paid a rate agreed upon in a contract four years ago and is in line with other Maine hospital systems.

Turner said Northern Light Health officials have requested a 30% price increase over three years, which would cause Anthem members to “pay $200 million more in health care costs over the life of the proposed three-year contract.”

Attempts at negotiating have led to an impasse.

Tuesday afternoon, though, Northern Light Health announced it would seek mediation with Anthem as a last resort.

“We cannot predict whether mediation will be successful should Anthem agree to this process, but it is the right thing to do as we continue to prioritize the best possible outcome for our patients,” Rohrbaugh wrote Tuesday. “We hope that Anthem will agree to mediation.”

Otherwise, Northern Light physicians and ancillary services will be out-of-network for Anthem starting Oct. 1, and hospital-based services will be out-of-network starting Dec. 31.

Turner said Anthem will continue working with the hospital system to reach a new contract in the weeks ahead.

“We are committed to continuing negotiations with Northern Light Health, and hope that they will agree to keep talking,” he wrote. “We both owe it to the Mainers we serve.”

Northern Light has hospitals in Portland, Bangor, Ellsworth and Presque Isle, among other locations.