Maine lawmakers hear ideas about how to preserve birthing centers

A Maine legislative committee on Thursday heard testimony from doctors, hospital administrators, and residents about how to preserve rural birthing services in the state, following a recent decision to shutter a maternity ward that has intensified concerns over maternal healthcare access.

The Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee convened in Augusta to take public comment on the issue, drawing more than 40 people to the hearing. The gathering followed MaineHealth's announcement earlier this month that its board of trustees had voted to close the birthing center at Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, citing persistently low birth volume and ongoing difficulty recruiting clinical staff.

If the Damariscotta unit closes as planned in December, it will mark the 12th birthing center in Maine to shut down since 2015. The trend has raised alarm across the state, with grassroots organizers, Gov. Janet Mills, and candidates for governor all urging MaineHealth to hold off on its decision.

Dr. Rose Fuchs, a family physician in Patten who delivers babies in Aroostook County, told the committee that despite significant barriers, including long travel distances and the 2025 closure of the birthing center at Houlton Regional Hospital, Maine has the capacity to reverse course.

"I believe we can solve this problem and stop the closures," Fuchs said. She warned that without meaningful improvement in access, the consequences would be dire. "It's not a question of if a death will occur, it's when."

Lawmakers also heard from Dr. Lisa Torgersen, a family medicine physician at Northern Light AR Gould Hospital in Presque Isle, who described the toll of the 2023 closure of the maternity ward at Rumford Hospital on the communities she serves. "Maine should be investing in rural maternity care, and not letting it disappear," Torgersen said.

Dr. Andrew Mueller, chief executive officer of MaineHealth, acknowledged the difficulty of the decision to end maternity services at Lincoln Hospital, which delivers roughly 130 babies a year. "This was an incredibly gut-wrenching thing we had to do," Mueller testified. He noted that while finances were not the primary driver, workforce shortages and low patient volume made continued operation untenable.

The Maine Section of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Maine Hospital Association both presented policy proposals. Sally Weiss, vice president of workforce policy and strategic readiness for the Maine Hospital Association, urged lawmakers to prioritize payment reform and workforce development. She suggested the state could expand financial incentives such as student loan repayment programs to attract healthcare workers, support additional training for family doctors who want to deliver babies, and grow the ranks of midwives across the state.

Weiss also recommended moving toward a system that compensates hospitals for being ready to deliver babies, rather than reimbursing them solely based on the number of births. With declining birth rates statewide, that shift could help stabilize facilities that maintain maternity wards in lower-volume areas. Many rural hospitals are struggling financially, even in cases where closures are not directly tied to bottom-line concerns.

The obstetrics and gynecology association recommended additional steps, including strengthening maternal transportation networks and ensuring that prenatal and postpartum care remain available in regions where birthing centers have closed. MaineHealth has said it intends to keep and expand such services at Lincoln Hospital even after the birthing center shuts down.

The personal stakes of those decisions came through clearly in the testimony of Leah Hurwitz, a 36-year-old mother of two from Round Pond who spoke about the complications surrounding the birth of her daughter last November. Hurwitz told lawmakers that without quick access to Lincoln Hospital, she believes her child would not have survived. The next-closest hospitals in Brunswick and Rockport are roughly 50 minutes away.

Hurwitz said she does not plan to have more children if the Damariscotta birthing center closes. "This is not how we get young people to have more babies," she said. "It's worth trying to keep the service going. We need it."

Committee members signaled that the issue would receive further attention, agreeing to meet again in late September to continue the discussion. The next legislative session begins in January.

Rep. Anne-Marie Mastraccio, a Democrat from Sanford, captured the mood of the hearing in her closing remarks. "This is a huge problem, and it's going to take a lot of people sitting down and figuring it out," she said.