A Collaboration Committee formed by Pen Bay Healthcare and Waldo County Healthcare has formed to explore partnerships. The committee includes equal board, clinical and administrative representatives from each organization. The committee will pursue leveraging the “strengths of PBH and WCH to continue to provide high-quality, affordable healthcare services in Knox and Waldo counties,” according to an Oct. 28 news release.

“Significant changes at the national and local level continue to place financial pressure on healthcare organizations,” said David Williams, chairman of the Pen Bay board of trustees, in the release. “A proactive, collaborative and creative approach to managing this change positions our organizations to continue to successfully deliver the high-quality, compassionate patient care that our friends and neighbors have come to expect.”

Pen Bay and Waldo County have collaborated on nephrology and urology care over the past two years and, most recently, vascular surgery and speech therapy. The Collaboration Committee formalizes the structure.

The committee is charged with delivering a set of recommendations for future collaborations by mid-2015; the first meeting Oct. 23 defined the governing principles and vision of the group. Four more meetings are scheduled to identify and explore opportunities.

“A key element of the committee’s work will be to engage in an interactive and thoughtful dialog with employees and community members over the next six months,” says Lee Woodward, Jr., Chairman of the Waldo County General Hospital board of directors. “To that end, a number of employee forums and public community meetings will be announced in the coming months.”