Prime Healthcare Foundation has submitted a letter of intent to file a Certificate of Need in the next 30 days to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in its effort to acquire Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston, seen here in 2022. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal file

AUGUSTA — Prime Healthcare Foundation submitted its Letter of Intent to file a Certificate of Need within the next 30 days to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services on March 12, a step closer its effort to acquire Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston.

Certificate of Need is a process that regulates certain types of health care decisions, requiring hospitals and doctors to seek state approval before making major changes to facilities such as mergers and acquisitions, new facilities and services, large capital investments for equipment or facilities and more.

Prime laid out its argument for the acquisition stating in its letter that it will benefit the community. It stated its commitment to preserving and strengthening health care for people in central, western and midcoast Maine, according to the letter.

“PHF’s mission is to provide quality, compassionate health care for all and serve communities through charitable and educational initiatives,” Prime officials state in the letter.

Should Prime acquire Central Maine Healthcare, the parent company of Central Maine Medical Center, it will be obligated to offer all current employees a job, it will invest $150 million in the local system over a five-year period, CMHC CEO Steve Littleson will stay on, along with other provisions, as part of the acquisition terms.

Prime Healthcare Foundation is a nonprofit arm, which operates 16 hospitals across the country, of larger for-profit health care organization Prime Healthcare, which owns 44 hospitals, including the 16 operated under the Foundation.

The Foundation states that it has provided more than $3.4 billion in support to communities and provides charity care. It has also won awards.

But Prime Healthcare itself has settled in two different cases in the last decade with the federal government regarding allegations of Medicare fraud, provider kickbacks and other accusations.

Littleson has previously stated how important the acquisition is to bring in capital to invest in the hospital system and staff. Central Maine Medical Center has operated in a multimillion-dollar deficit going back several years, according to IRS documents.

Central Maine Healthcare and Prime will schedule a public information session this spring regarding the acquisition, though an exact date has yet to be scheduled. The state will schedule a public hearing regarding the CON, as required by law.

Prime will also have to seek permission from the Federal Trade Commission to acquire CMHC to ensure there are no antitrust issues with the transaction. It is unclear if Prime has submitted any filings with the agency. Prime officials did not issue any statement about next steps in the process by Thursday afternoon.

This story has been corrected to say Prime Healthcare Foundation has filed a letter of intent to file a Certificate of Need with the state of Maine in the next 30 days.