Northern Light & Anthem Contract Negotiation Resolution
Thursday, November 6, 2025
As we previously shared, Northern Light Health (NLH), which operates Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Mercy Hospital in Portland, and a large network of primary care and specialty care services, has been negotiating a new contract with Anthem. This contract sets the prices that Northern Light charges to its patients and health plans, including the Health Trust. While both parties continued to negotiate, the contract agreement which covers Northern Light Health providers expired as of September 30, 2025, and was further extended through October 31, 2025.
UPDATE 11/5/2025 - Anthem and Northern Light Health have issued a Joint Statement, that they have reached an agreement that will provide in-network access to all Northern Light hospitals, clinics and providers for Anthem health plan members. The multi-year contract is retroactive to November 1, 2025, so all care since then will be treated as in-network.
Due to contractual obligations, members who saw a Northern Light provider in the past 12 months were sent a letter earlier this week notifying them that Northern Light hospitals would not be in the Anthem network as of January 1, 2026, unless an agreement was reached. This new contract ensures that the Northern Light Health hospitals will remain in-network with Anthem so please disregard the letter.