Northern Light’s new CEO says adaptability key to financial turnaround

Photo / Courtesy Northern Light Health R. Guy Hudson, MD, assumed the role of president and CEO of Northern Light Health last week.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Following more than two decades of clinical and executive leadership experience and participation in international medical missions, the new head of Northern Light Health cited adaptability in a challenging health care environment as key to the system’s financial turnaround.

Dr. R. Guy Hudson assumed the role of president and CEO of Northern Light Health last week.

“It has been rough after COVID, and a lot of health systems are having difficulties getting back up on their feet,” Hudson said in a news release. “I think Northern Light has a real opportunity to rise and keep moving forward.”

The pediatric urologic surgeon, physician executive and experienced CEO succeeded Tim Dentry, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

Hudson previously served for six years as CEO of Swedish Health System, a multi-campus health system headquartered in Seattle, Wash. He was a chief executive at Providence, a not-for-profit health system also based in Washington, where he led operations in the system’s north division, including Puget Sound and Alaska, for two years.

Like Northern Light Health, Providence’s north division includes a mix of secular and Catholic facilities, cares for rural communities and includes several critical access hospitals.

After Swedish and Providence, Hudson returned to clinical practice in 2023 as a pediatric urologic surgeon in Boise, Idaho. He has also participated in international medical missions, providing care in countries including Guatemala and Uganda.

Headwinds

Hudson arrives at Maine’s second-largest health care system, headquartered in Brewer, during a period of turmoil. Last year, Northern Light said it was looking to turn around a trend of steepening financial losses.

More recently, Northern Light has been facing financial headwinds that include the closure of Northern Light Inland Hospital and a walk-in clinic in Waterville; a 3% workforce cut, mostly through attrition; the closure of a Bangor clinic; and, like hospitals across the country, the prospect of financial strain from reduced federal Medicaid funding.

The headwinds “seem to be a little stronger than usual. And Northern Light has been as adaptable as possible to respond to those headwinds,” Hudson told Mainebiz in an interview this week.

Hudson has been cited by John Ryan, Northern Light Health’s board chair, as having “a proven record of leading financial turnarounds in hospital systems, balancing the need for financial discipline with providing world-class health care to the community.”

With just a week on the job so far, Hudson said that “adjustments” in some areas of operation complement investments in others.

“We do our best to balance the health system to meet the evolving needs of the community,” he said.

The first thing that happens with any type of turnaround, he said, is helping the workforce understand the complexities of what the system is dealing with and “having them grounded in why we choose to serve others. That develops a sense of pride and ownership and accountability to deliver health care better and also to realize everyone is dependent on who we are and what we do.”

He continued, “We have our fiscal priorities and objectives that we need to achieve, but they’re dependent on all those other things coming together.”

Anthem contract

Hudson said Northern Light continues to work with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to come up with a new contract.

“We’re working with Anthem to get to an agreement as quickly as we can,” he said. “I think both organizations have the best intentions. Hopefully, that will be done in the next week or so to get to a final contract.”

Earlier this month, Northern Light and Anthem agreed to extend their existing contract by 30 days as both parties continue working toward a long-term agreement.

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