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There\u2019s still time to make a gift in 2025 to power BDN reporting for the year ahead. Make a donation now.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Northern Light Health lost $15 million last year, a year after a $156 million loss left the health care system reeling<\/a>. <\/p>\n The health care system had a nearly $141 million improvement by Sept. 30, the end of fiscal year 2025, its latest audit shows. It\u2019s the first time in four years that Northern Light has lost less money than it did the previous year.<\/p>\n The latest financial report could indicate that the health care system is starting to turn things around after years of struggle and puts Northern Light\u2019s losses more comparable to other hospital systems in the state. However, the improvement comes as federal funding cuts are expected to add more strain to rural medicine in the coming years.<\/p>\n Northern Light lost just under $15 million at the end of the 2025 fiscal year, while it was $156 million in the hole for fiscal year 2024, an audit for Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025<\/a>, released on Dec. 18 showed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were certainly very pleased with the year over year improvement,\u201d Chief Financial Officer James Rohrbaugh said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of work done.\u201d<\/p>\n Northern Light last saw its financial outlook improve in fiscal year 2021, when it made $57 million in operating revenue after losing nearly $83 million the year prior, a spokesperson for the health care system said. It lost $131.7 million in 2022 and $36.1 million in 2023. <\/p>\n A big part of the financial improvement was a $50 million payment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for outstanding claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rohrbaugh said.<\/p>\n The FEMA payment from 2024 was only $1.2 million, University of Maine finance professor Pankaj Agrrawal said. The significantly larger 2025 payment helped with the debt, but it\u2019s not a yearly payment at that size. <\/p>\n Spending on travel providers shrank by about $26 million, Rohrbaugh said. In August 2024<\/a>, the system was spending more than $180 million on travel staff annually.<\/p>\n The system has also made sure it\u2019s getting paid for its services, he said. It got a payment from MaineCare<\/a>\u00a0for services provided in 2023, which was an early sign of performance improvement, according to Moody\u2019s Ratings.<\/p>\n Inland Hospital in Waterville closed in June, a decision that helped reduce debt, Rohrbaugh said.<\/p>\n \u201cMuch of this improvement reflects a one\u2011time or early\u2011stage action, rather than a fully established new normal,\u201d Aggrawal said. \u201cThe sharp drop in debt and liabilities is therefore best understood as part of a broader, still\u2011in\u2011progress turnaround: it is strong evidence that things are moving in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he added the system needs at least two or three more years of operations that break-even or even positive without one-time payments. Continued cost and revenue improvements and less reliance on credit are needed to show a lasting fix, Aggrawal said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been common for Maine hospitals to lose money in recent years. MaineHealth, the state\u2019s largest health care system, made $40 million in fiscal year 2024 but lost $18 million in 2023, according to its most recent audit<\/a>. MaineGeneral Health in Augusta lost $14 million in 2024 and $19 million in 2023, its most recent audit said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Northern Light credit rating from S&P Global dropped in early 2025, the global rating firm said<\/a>. Moody\u2019s Ratings also downgraded Northern Light\u2019s credit rating in the past year. <\/p>\n An expert warned at the time<\/a>\u00a0that the downgrades mean the system would likely struggle to find lending.<\/p>\n