Northern Light closes Bangor walk-in clinic and cuts 3 percent of staff

By Annie Rupertus, Bangor Daily News Staff

Northern Light Health has closed its walk-in care clinic in Bangor and is reducing its staff by 3 percent, the organization announced Sept. 3.

Two thirds of those staff cuts have already happened in recent weeks as people have retired or left without being replaced, according to Paul Bolin, executive vice president and chief people and administrative officer for the health care system. Most of the positions cut were effective immediately.

Northern Light employs about 10,000 people across the state, meaning the cuts will reduce staff by about 300 people, roughly 100 of whom were laid off.

The Brewer-based health care system first announced at the beginning of July that it was preparing for staffing cuts. The changes come amid ongoing financial troubles for Northern Light, which lost $156 million in 2024, and a breakdown in negotiations with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield that could force people covered by the state’s largest health insurer to seek services elsewhere.

Most of the eliminated positions are non-clinical, according to a statement from the health system, but the closure of the walk-in care center at 915 Union St. in Bangor is the most notable area where clinical staff are being cut.

The health system will try to divert more staff towards primary care to make up for ending those services, Bolin said.

“The bulk of walk-in care visits could be appropriately and clinically handled at a primary care practice if we had the availability,” he said. “So now we’re going to make sure we’re increasing our access to acute care visits and primary care.”

The walk-in care office already reduced its hours multiple times in the past year. The clinic has opened four days a week since mid-June, according to Northern Light’s website — a cutback from its previous six days a week schedule.

Beyond walk-in care, most of the clinical staff whose positions have been cut are travelers, Bolin said.

Some of the reduction also includes senior leadership. For example, Bolin said, Northern Light’s chief strategy officer and its senior vice president of clinical operations have retired in recent months and will not be replaced.

For the staff members whose jobs were eliminated on Wednesday, Northern Light will aim to place many of them into other open roles within the health care system. Bolin said he thinks it’s likely that half or more of those people will find other jobs with the organization — a strategy Northern Light has used in the past. 

When its Waterville hospital closed this spring, about one third of those employees were placed into other Northern Light jobs, according to Bolin.

There are hundreds of open positions, and employees who have been displaced from their Northern Light positions will get preference in the hiring process for other jobs, Bolin said.

All of the staff members who lost positions will be offered severance and career guidance whether they decide to apply to another Northern Light job or look elsewhere, according to Bolin. The health care system does not currently have plans for additional layoffs, although “that’s always a possibility,” he added.

“This is difficult but very necessary work,” Bolin said in the statement from Northern Light, pointing to financial challenges including rising costs and low reimbursements.

He said he expects Northern Light’s losses will be significant by the end of this fiscal year, but still a substantial improvement from last year.