Northern Light to close Dexter health care office

One of the state’s major health care providers will close a Dexter-based facility next month.

Northern Light Health will close its Dexter Internal Medicine facility on Sept. 30, according to Suzanne Spruce, a spokesperson for Northern Light. The office’s employees and patients will all move to another facility in the region.

The adult medicine practice offers treatment for common chronic illnesses, cancer screenings, women’s health services, preventive health care and dietary counseling, sports physicals, adult vaccinations and more.

The closure will come about five months after Northern Light announced it will close its clinic in Southwest Harbor and a year after Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center shuttered its Orono primary care practice .

The 1,363 patients who receive care at the office will be sent to other Northern Light practices in the region, such as those in Dover-Foxcroft and Corinth. No patients will be dropped in the transition, Spruce said.

“We will do all we can to make this process as seamless as possible,” Spruce said. “For most patients the only difference will be the location of care delivery.”

The eight staff members, including an office supervisor, three patient service representatives, two medical assistants and two providers, will also transition to other Northern Light Health locations, according to Spruce.

Northern Light Health operates four practices within 15 miles and seven practices within 25 miles of Dexter Internal Medicine.

The health care provider decided to close the office “after exhausting other options” because Dexter Internal Medicine’s building, which Northern Light owns, “no longer meets our standards for a patient care facility,” Spruce said.

The building is challenging for the health care system because it’s multiple floors and needs various upgrades, likely costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, to ensure it meets the company’s “rigorous regulatory oversight” and make it “an efficient and welcoming environment,” Spruce said.

Northern Light searched for years for a new facility to move the Dexter practice into, but decided to close the office when it was unable to find one.