sent a letter to Allen Stefanek<\/a>, president and CEO of CMMC.<\/p>\n“I write to express my deep concern about reports that Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) has terminated at least 15 nurses and suspended five others just days before a union election,” Mills wrote.<\/p>\n
CMMC nurses will vote on Thursday, Sept. 24, to decide whether they officially unionize.<\/p>\n
Mills went on to discuss a looming shortage of nurses in the state and also wrote about Prime Healthcare’s acquisition of CMMC.<\/p>\n
“In 2025, my Administration issued a Certificate of Need (CON) approving Prime Healthcare\u2019s acquisition of Central Maine Healthcare. In July, following media reports and complaints to the Department concerning staffing shortages and quality-of-care issues, and a request for information that was not sufficiently answered, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services notified you that it was reviewing Prime Healthcare\u2019s compliance with the Certificate of Need\u2019s staffing requirements,” she wrote.<\/p>\n
“The decision to fire or suspend 20 nurses only heightens concerns that Prime Healthcare is failing to meet its commitments under the CON approval, which requires that essential health services for patients be maintained in accordance with acceptable standards for quality and safety. As well, I understand that the Department, acting in its capacity as the state agent for Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has made a site visit to CMMC and is reviewing quality of care and safety concerns related to staffing under that authority.”<\/p>\n
Mills acknowledged that Prime Healthcare “insists” that no employees were disciplined because of union activity, but said the timing and action “raises serious questions about retaliation.”<\/p>\n
A CMMC spokesperson told Maine’s Total Coverage that no employee has been suspended or terminated because of union activity or for exercising protected rights. The hospital spokesperson said that 15 nurses have been fired and five have been suspended due to violations of longstanding hospital policies and standards, including those needed to ensure patient care and safety.<\/p>\n
Mills then called for action.<\/p>\n
“I strongly urge you to immediately reinstate every nurse who has been wrongfully fired or suspended. Failure to do so will make clear to Maine people that Prime Healthcare is prioritizing corporate interests over the commitments it made to the State of Maine to deliver the quality health care which Maine people expect and deserve.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Mills calls for nurses to be reinstated at Central Maine Medical Center LEWISTON, Maine \u2014 Gov. Janet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[24379,149809,362331,149799,362315,27282,362332,362316,97,252,5123,253,362319,74924,65531,27280,362317,151419,362318,14971,347331,7348,70942,362320,362321,362322,362330,18754,235555,362323,362324,36389,362325,362326,2853,805,2785,103022,362327,13109,362328,362329,14972],"class_list":["post-858101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-acquisition","tag-central-maine-medical-center","tag-certificate","tag-cmmc","tag-cmmc-nurses","tag-consumer-news","tag-deep-concern","tag-gov-janet-mills","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-health-news","tag-healthcare","tag-illegal-firings","tag-maine-health","tag-maine-jobs","tag-maine-news","tag-maine-nurses","tag-maine-state-nurses-association","tag-maine-union","tag-maines-total-coverage","tag-mill","tag-need","tag-nurse","tag-nurse-shortage","tag-nurses-fired","tag-nurses-suspended","tag-parent-prime-healthcare-foundation","tag-patient","tag-prime-healthcare","tag-protecting-jobs","tag-protecting-patients","tag-quality","tag-quality-of-care","tag-reinstate-the-nurses","tag-report","tag-retaliation","tag-safety","tag-shortage","tag-staffing-needs","tag-state","tag-trying-to-unionize","tag-union-actions","tag-wmtw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790190972_627_2e9bb2b7-64fa-4942-8736-db9fd326f2e9_1660591986.file.png\")
LEWISTON, Maine \u2014<\/p>\n