Castine hospital group in ‘overdrive’ to find replacement for clinic

Castine hospital group looking at possible new model of care for monthly or annual fees

The group that owns the Castine hospital building is considering fee-based direct primary care services to replace Northern Light’s clinic, which is closing and moving to Blue Hill. File photo.

Jan. 21, 2026

By Emily Baer

The Castine Community Hospital Corporation’s board of directors met on Jan. 16 to discuss Northern Light Health’s decision to relocate its Castine primary care practice to the Sussman Health Center on the Northern Light Blue Hill Hospital campus in February.

The corporation, which is an independent nonprofit separate from the town of Castine and Northern Light, owns the grounds and building where the Castine Health Center operates, and leases the building to Northern Light.

“The timing [of Northern Light’s announcement] was a surprise,” said CCHC board president Bobby Vagt. “We did have some reason to believe that they would let us get to the end of a process to determine what might come next.” 

Since last fall, CCHC has been working with IEN Risk Management to study the viability of a community-owned health plan for the area.

“We're talking about a direct primary care operation which is not the same as what we have had,” Vagt said.

According to the CCHC website, the direct primary care model is fairly new. Access is usually “based on a monthly or annual fee paid to the practice, allowing patients to deal directly with the practice and provider for their primary care,” according to CCHC’s website. In instances where advanced care is needed, “the DPC negotiates with specialty medical services on behalf of patients.”

“We were being very methodical,” Vagt said. “We had assumed that since Northern Light knew what we were working on that we might have the time to come up with some solutions ahead of [a possible closure] but they have made that decision and we have put our work into overdrive.”

Since the announcement, Vagt and his board have heard from community members who are anxious about the future of healthcare in Castine.

“The population in Maine is old and our patient panel is no different,” Vagt said. “That makes this all perhaps more challenging to deal with, but even the younger people are saying ‘What do I do now?’”

Patient services will cease in Castine on February 27 and Northern Light’s lease will run through the end of April. Patients of the clinic will be offered services in Blue Hill. Northern Light had also previously said the clinic’s sole doctor and four staff members would be offered jobs in Blue Hill.

In the meantime, CCHC is accelerating its work with its consultants at IEN Risk Strategy.

“We have to set up a legal structure that allows for the DPC,” said Vagt. “We have to develop a sliding scale for fees, determine how we handle Medicaid and ensure that we can take Medicare patients.”

“Our mission is to provide quality health care for the people in this region,” Vagt said. “And that is what we’re going to continue to try to do.”