The Gorham location of Martin’s Point, a Portland-based healthcare practice, has been experiencing heavy physician turnover. (Madeleine Kaptein/Staff Writer)

Drew Fitzgibbon, 32, was already considering switching healthcare practices after learning that his primary care provider was leaving Martin’s Point in Gorham earlier this year.

He had liked that his provider there was around his age, and the new doctor he was assigned was significantly older. But before he had a single appointment, he received a notice his new doctor was leaving, too. The letter said Fitzgibbon would be reassigned again to a yet-to-be-determined physician.

“It had been maybe a year since my last PCP visit, and now I’m on my third PCP in that year,” Fitzgibbon said. He is now moving to a different provider in Windham, a spot he had to secure through a friend who works there.

Fitzgibbon is one of several locals frustrated by the clinician turnover at the Gorham branch of Portland-based Martin’s Point recently, where at least four providers have left in the past 13 months. The practice’s website now lists eight Gorham-based providers, one of whom patients received notice last week is leaving.

Aaron Manning, an insurance agent at Health Markets Insurance in Standish, said that some of his clients in Gorham have been reassigned to new providers every year at Martin’s Point as its employees retired, moved to other companies or started their own practices. Some patients have been sent to receive care at the Scarborough location instead.

“I think for my patients it’s the relationship you form with your doctor. That can’t really happen if it’s constantly changing and they don’t have that background on your health needs that comes with treating you over time,” Manning said. He added that his low-income senior clients often don’t have access to transportation to the Scarborough location.

None of the known clinicians who left the Martin’s Point recently could be reached for comment this week. In a statement to the Press Herald, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Steve Amendo acknowledged the staffing changes at the Gorham location and said the company recently added two new providers in Gorham and is continually recruiting additional clinicians.

Rebecca Wartell, 39, had the same provider for 10 years at the Martin’s Point location in Portland, but switched to a provider at the Gorham location once she moved there and her previous doctor had left. She only saw her new provider once before being reassigned twice without having met her two most recent providers.

“I ideally would like to have a doctor that I have some kind of connection with and am comfortable with, knowing that I could go to them having that rapport,” Wartell said.  “This time, (the reassignment) felt extra impersonal because (the letter) was like, ‘It’s been a privilege to care for your family and a privilege to care for you over the past few years,’ and I’m like, I never even met you.”

Craig Voisine, 48, had consistent care from one provider at Martin’s Point in Gorham from 2015 to 2023. But since that physician left, he has been reassigned three times.

“When you have to go to a new provider, now you have to kind of rebuild your story again,” Voisine said.

He said the quality of care there has been excellent, but the lack of consistency and timely communication has concerned him. Voisine’s current provider is out on maternity leave, and he is not sure when she will return. He has thought about switching to InterMed, but the transfer process seems to him like a daunting challenge.

“Like many healthcare organizations, we continue to navigate industry-wide challenges affecting providers and health systems across the country,” Amendo wrote in his statement. “Despite these pressures, Martin’s Point remains focused on delivering high-quality care and service to our patients and members today and into the future.”

Amendo did not directly respond to questions about specific turnover rates or reasons for clinician departures.

If you’ve experienced challenges with practitioner changeover at this or other Martin’s Point locations, please reach out to Madeleine Kaptein at [email protected] or 207-689-2901.