Community Clinical Services splits from St. Mary’s Health System (2024)

LEWISTON — Along with a logo change, Community Clinical Services split from St. Mary’s Health System as of Monday. The decision was mutual, according to a news release issued Friday by Community Clinical Services.

Though its legal affiliation has ended, the two organizations will still partner to coordinate patient care when needed, according to Community Clinical Services CEO Coleen Elias. It will also continue to contract with St. Mary’s for certain services, such as information technology.

“I am grateful to our partners at St. Mary’s Health System for their many years of support through our affiliation, and for their ongoing support through this period of transition and beyond,” Elias said in the news release. “While our logo is changing, one thing that will never change is our passion and steadfast commitment to serving our community with safe, equitable and compassionate care.”

St. Mary’s helped found Community Clinical Services in 1985 and had been the nonprofit’s corporate sponsor since, according to Elias. With the legal split, St. Mary’s is no longer financially responsible to the organization and will no longer have appointed members to its board of directors.

For fiscal years 2021 and 2023, St. Mary’s did not provide any financial support to Community Clinical Services but for fiscal year 2022 it gave the organization $851,105 to support its operations, according to Elias.

As a federally qualified health center “look alike,” meaning it does not receive grant funding, Community Clinical Services has been working toward independence from St. Mary’s for several years as required by Health Resources and Services Administration, Elias said. No health center can be owned, controlled or operated by a hospital, so it needed to show good faith in working toward that goal by becoming independent.

“We’re excited about this next phase in our organization’s history and we’re grateful to St. Mary’s for their many years of longstanding support and helping us reach this moment of independence,” she said.

Community Clinical Services is applying for a grant application to become a 330 grantee federally qualified health center, according to St. Mary’s spokesman Benjamin Sullivan. It is a competitive process and the organization is looking to make itself as competitive as possible by fully complying with the regulators’ requirements and being fully autonomous.

“To achieve this goal, CCS has made important operational decisions that have led the organization to become more financially solvent without financial support from SMHS,” he said. “St. Mary’s will remain a strong partner to CCS, sharing a strong mission of service to the Lewiston-Auburn community.”

St. Mary’s has operated in a financial deficit going back several years, with the last fiscal year being the worst. Since then, it has been taking measures to tamp back its spending, including closing programs and laying off people in recent years. It expects to receive almost $9 million from the state after legislators approved a bill for the funding earlier this year to keep its behavioral health clinic afloat.

Community Clinical Services’ new logo, which was designed by a local business, is blue and green, and looks like two people embracing, making the shape of a heart. The old logo was the same as St. Mary’s logo but blue. The new logo was designed specifically to reflect its purpose and values.

“Our future looks bright because our mission, more imperative than ever, illuminates purpose,” Elias said in a news release. “Purpose is what calls people to action and it is incredibly inspiring to be a part of purpose-driven work.”

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