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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 23 M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 2 0 Find a Maine credit union near you at mainecreditunions.org Helping Maine businesses own their future. A Maine credit union knows what it takes to be a successful local business because they are one. They know what you need to make your job easier, with conveniences like digital banking and remote deposit capture. Low fees, favorable rates, and personal service are credit union benefits you can depend on every day. It's your moment. Ownit. Playing offense Central Maine Healthcare CEO Jeff Brickman is seeing results after taking on what was a struggling system B Y M a u r e e n M i l l i k e n J eff Brickman, a big sports fan, felt as though he was playing defense for his first two-plus years as CEO of Central Maine Healthcare. Recently though, things have changed at the Lewiston-based health care system. He's playing offense. Big time. "That's been a big part in the change in mood, and the change in focus and the change in energy for the organization," Brickman says as he sits in his office overlooking downtown Lewiston. "When we had to go through our retrenching, and then rebalancing, that set us back a year." Now CMH is embarking on "some of the most exciting, transformative work that's been seen in generations for our community," he says. Brickman took the job in September 2016, when CMH was losing $2 million to $3 million a month; he weathered no- confidence votes from doctors at the system's three hospitals (Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Rumford and Bridgton hospitals), 27% staff turnover, a group of Bridgton residents lobbying for the hospital to be sold, just to name a few challenges. But in the past year and a half: Physician turnover is 4%, with 90 pro- viders and 180 nurses hired in the past 18 months. Bridgton and Rumford hospitals have gone from patient safety Leapfrog "C" ratings to three consecutive "A" ratings; the system has received national safety and quality accredi- tations in orthopedics, advanced pri- mary stroke, rehabilitation medicine, bariatric surgery, among others. Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute, on the Lewiston hospital campus, was named one of the nation's 50 top heart hospitals by IBM/Watson. Topsham Care Center and Maine Urgent Care Center opened in Topsham; Lewiston's Maine Urgent Care will open this month. Par tner ships were forged with S p e c t r u m H e a l t h c a r e , Q u e s t Diagnostics, Shields Healthcare, New England Cancer Specialists and others. Plans for a $38 million cancer cen- ter were announced in December; the state Department of Health and Human Services approved a prelimi- nary certificate of need this month. "Over the last 14 months as we've stabilized our workforce, stabilized our clinical staff, opened up access to our programs and our practices, we've made significant investments that we'll continue to make this coming year...as we look at the demographics and the health care needs of the market that we serve." More simply, "All we are doing in our growth is meeting the community where they want to be met for services that they have been asking us to provide." The focus on oncology "is a good example of what we're doing to meet that need." Androscoggin County has the high- est cancer rate in Maine, but, historically, CMH hasn't been able to meet that need. In the past 14 months, the hospital has recruited staff that "has given us a greater ability to take care of people locally than ever before." The cancer center will also be a sig- nificant investment in the local economy, as well as an upgrade to "cutting-edge oncology that will benefit this community." Another foundation of the turnaround has been building up the primary care staff. "Primary care is probably the most important foundation of any health sys- tem, because that's where the patient contact first begins," Brickman says. "Having that kind of success with our primary care physicians, our nurse prac- titioners, that has been the key founda- tional part of our turnaround." CMH is also pursuing a value-based model based on improvements in technol- ogy and moving some health care out of the hospital, reducing costs. "It's recognizing that this is where health care needs to go in order to bend the cost curve to provide more affordable and accessible care at a high level of quality and service," he says. That's what's behind the development

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