Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston will end its status as a trauma center on Dec. 1, according to a statement from health leaders Monday.

The hospital, part of the Central Maine Healthcare system, will not seek re-verification as a trauma center and instead will be considered a trauma system hospital.

Central Maine Healthcare officials said Monday the decision was made due to the “administrative and burdensome costs” related to participating in the trauma center certificate program, which is regulated by the American College of Surgeons, a medical association that verifies trauma centers.

Officials also said the hospital will continue to have an emergency department and continue to offer the same level of trauma care.

Trauma centers provide a wide range of trauma care, including immediate access to trauma surgeons, said Wil O’Neal, president of Maine Emergency Medical Services.

Trauma system hospitals, O’Neal said, can provide emergency care but may not have capacity for emergency surgery, prompting inter-facility transfers. There are more than 30 trauma system hospitals in Maine.

The loss of the Lewiston trauma center will strain the state’s emergency care system, O’Neal said.

“My concern is that there’s going to be a gap for those patients that would have gone to Central Maine with trauma — they may have to go farther,” O’Neal said. “That means they may have a longer period of time before they get in front of definitive care.”

But Erin Clark, medical director of CMMC’s emergency department, said Monday that the change will not impact current staffing levels, capacity for trauma surgery or the hospital’s 24-hour emergency room.

She said maintaining the trauma center certification costs the hospital more than $500,000 each year, spent on administrative work like filling out paperwork and maintaining a trauma registry to store patient data.

Cutting out that cost will not take any resources away from patient care, Clark said.

“If you’re in a serious accident, and we were able to take care of you on Nov. 30, we’ll still be able to take care of you on Dec. 1,” Clark said. “We don’t anticipate a change in our critically injured patient volume.”

The hospital has been verified by the American College of Surgeons as a level three trauma center, which is defined by the group as a facility that plays a “critical role” in serving rural populations without access to another trauma center.

CMMC was previously a level two trauma center, a facility that provides trauma care for a wide range of injuries and oversees disaster planning and other regional responsibilities. The hospital stopped providing emergency neurosurgery in 2021, then dropped down to level three.

After Dec. 1, the state’s remaining certified trauma centers will be MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland and Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Maine EMS officials say trauma patients with serious injuries should be transported to a trauma center if it’s within 45 minutes, and otherwise should be transported to the closest trauma system hospital. Patients in need of immediate intervention should always go to the closest hospital, they say.

O’Neal said there are concerns that after Dec. 1, ambulances will have to drive farther to transport patients to Bangor or Portland, leaving their communities with fewer emergency resources and possibly longer wait times.

Clark said hospital officials have had conversations with surrounding ambulance agencies and other health care providers about their intent to maintain the same level of services.

“Paramedics will still bring us critically injured patients from the Lewiston, Auburn community and surrounding,” Clark said. “Effectively, I don’t think you as an individual patient will notice much of a change.”