Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital
- CMS overall rating
- Not ratedNot rated by CMS
- Patient survey rating
- Not ratedNot rated
- Beds
- 25
- Average time in the ER
- 118 min
- Primary specialties
- 28
CMS data as of
Overview
Summary
Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital is located in Blue Hill, Maine. Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital is a critical access hospital and is a private non-profit. This facility has 25 beds. Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital offers emergency care services. At this facility, they have 149 providers across 28 primary specialties.
| Measure | Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital | Mount Desert Island Hospital | Mainehealth Waldo Hospital | Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Able to receive lab results electronically | Yes | Not available | Yes | Not available |
| Able to track patient records electronically | Yes | Not available | Yes | Not available |
| Offers emergency services | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
How the overall rating breaks down
CMS groups quality measures into categories and reports whether each hospital is above, the same as, or below the national average in each.
| Measure | Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital | Mount Desert Island Hospital | Mainehealth Waldo Hospital | Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Efficient use of medical imaging | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Effectiveness of Care | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Mortality | Same as national average | Same as national average | Same as national average | Same as national average |
| Patient Experience | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Readmission | Same as national average | Below national average | Same as national average | Same as national average |
| Safety of Care | Not available | Same as national average | Same as national average | Same as national average |
| Timeliness of Care | Not available | Not available | Not available | Not available |
Nearby hospitals of the same type are included for context.
Charts below include 3 nearby hospitals of the same type for context. Compare these 4 hospitals side by side.
Trends since 2020
How Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital has changed on key measures in each annual CMS release, with the national value for reference.
- Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital
- National
Overall star rating
Stars (1–5) · Higher is better
No data reported for 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026. View data as a table
Overall star rating, 2020–2026 CMS release year Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital 2020 4 2021 4 2022 3 2023 — 2024 — 2025 — 2026 — Patients' overall rating
Score (0–100) · Higher is better
Hospital-wide readmission rate
Percent · Lower is better
Rate of unplanned readmission within 30 days, all conditions. From 2025 CMS reports the Hybrid Hospital-Wide Readmission measure (claims plus EHR data), which replaced the claims-only measure; values are close but not strictly comparable across the change. CMS suppressed it for 2026.
No data reported for 2026. View data as a table
Hospital-wide readmission rate, 2020–2026 CMS release year Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital National 2020 15.9% 15.6% 2021 15.6% 15.5% 2022 14.6% 15% 2023 13.7% 14.6% 2024 14% 14.6% 2025 14.9% 15% 2026 — — Heart failure death rate
Percent · Lower is better
Each point is a CMS annual release. View data as a table
Heart failure death rate, 2020–2026 CMS release year Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital National 2020 11.6% 11.3% 2021 11.8% 11.2% 2022 10.2% 11.3% 2023 — 11.8% 2024 9.6% 11.9% 2025 — 11.6% 2026 — 11.1% Time in emergency department
Minutes · Lower is better
Each point is a CMS annual release. View data as a table
Time in emergency department, 2020–2026 CMS release year Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital National 2020 109 min 142 min 2021 135 min 148 min 2022 139 min 157 min 2023 135 min 161 min 2024 117 min 163 min 2025 118 min 161 min 2026 118 min 162 min Appropriate sepsis care
Percent · Higher is better
Each point is a CMS annual release. View data as a table
Appropriate sepsis care, 2020–2026 CMS release year Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital National 2020 — 60% 2021 — 57% 2022 — 57% 2023 — 59% 2024 — 62% 2025 — 64% 2026 55% 65%
Outcomes
What happened to patients after their stay: deaths, readmissions and infections picked up in the hospital.
Death rates
The share of patients who died within 30 days of a hospital stay for this condition, adjusted for how sick they were. Lower is better.
About this measure
Patients admitted for treatment sometimes develop serious complications or die. Many of these events can be prevented when hospitals follow best practices. CMS risk-adjusts death rates so hospitals that treat sicker patients are compared fairly.
Unplanned readmissions
The share of patients who came back to a hospital unexpectedly within 30 days of going home. Lower is better.
About this measure
The readmission measures estimate the rate of unplanned readmission to an acute care hospital in the 30 days after discharge. Returning to the hospital disrupts patients’ lives, raises the risk of harmful events like infections, and costs more. Hospitals that give high quality care can keep patients from returning.
Infections caught in the hospital
Infections compared with the number expected for a hospital like this one. 1.0 is as expected; below 1.0 is better.
About this measure
Infections are reported using a standardized infection ratio. The SIR compares the actual number of infections at a hospital to a national benchmark based on data reported to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).
Timely care and patient experience
Emergency department waits, whether recommended treatments were given, and how patients rated their stay.
Time spent in the emergency department
How long patients typically spent in the emergency department before leaving. Shorter is better.
About this measure
Timely emergency care is essential for good outcomes. Delays can reduce the quality of care and increase risk and discomfort for patients with serious illnesses or injuries. Waiting times vary with the number of patients seen, staffing, efficiency, admitting procedures and the availability of inpatient beds.
Recommended care
How often the hospital gave care that research shows gets the best results. Higher is better.
About this measure
Sepsis is a complication that occurs when the body has an extreme response to an infection. It damages organs and can be life-threatening. Sepsis can turn into septic shock, which has a higher risk of death. Identifying sepsis early and starting appropriate care quickly increases the chance of survival.
The septic shock measures focus on adults with severe sepsis or septic shock and check whether medically required interventions were given within three hours (first steps) and six hours (remaining steps).
Patient experience
How recently discharged patients rated their stay on the national HCAHPS survey, as a 0–100 score. Higher is better.
About this measure
Patients review their care using the HCAHPS survey, which covers overall rating, willingness to recommend, cleanliness, quietness, nurse and doctor communication, communication about medicines and more. CMS converts each set of responses to a number between 0 and 100 and averages them into a linear mean score that captures the full distribution of answers.
Costs and value
What care costs Medicare and patients, how it relates to outcomes, and the hospital’s own costs and staffing.
Payments for an episode of care
Average total paid, by Medicare and the patient, for care from admission through the following 30 days (90 for hip/knee replacement).
About this measure
The payment measures add up all payments for care starting the day the patient enters the hospital: payments to the hospital, doctor's office, skilled nursing facility and hospice, plus patient copayments. Risk adjustment accounts for patient age, medical history and other conditions, and removes differences unrelated to care such as geographic pricing.
Value of care
Death rate and payment for the same condition, side by side. Hospitals toward the lower left have both lower death rates and lower payments.
About this measure
Looking at payment together with quality-of-care measures such as death rates lets you compare the value of care between hospitals. Lower and to the left (low death rate, low payment) is the best combination.
Costs versus charges
How a hospital’s actual costs compare with what it lists as charges. Closer to 1 means list prices are closer to costs.
About this measure
Hospitals list charges that are usually much higher than what care costs them. The cost-to-charge ratio shows how far apart the two are. Values are calculated from the hospital’s annual Medicare cost report.
Employees on payroll
Estimated full-time-equivalent staff, from the hospital’s Medicare cost report.
Doctors and specialties
Which kinds of doctors are affiliated with the hospital, and which specialties are unusually common there.
Doctors by specialty
Doctors affiliated with this hospital, grouped by primary specialty.
About this measure
The RCA calculation compares a specialty’s share of all doctors at a given hospital with that specialty’s share across all hospitals.
Key facts about Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital
The latest CMS numbers for Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, how they compare with the national value, and how they have changed since the earliest release we track. Data as of Sep 30, 2026.
| Measure | Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital | National | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall star rating (higher is better) | 3 stars in 2022 | — | Down from 4 stars in 2020 |
| Heart failure death rate (lower is better) | 9.6% in 2024Lower than national (11.9%) | 11.9% | Down from 11.6% in 2020 |
| Pneumonia death rate (lower is better) | 16.8% in 2026Higher than national (15.2%) | 15.2% | Up from 14.6% in 2020 |
| Hospital-wide readmission rate (lower is better) | 14.9% in 2025Lower than national (15%) | 15% | — |
| Time in emergency department (lower is better)Median time from arrival to leaving, for patients sent home (excludes psychiatric and transferred patients) | 118 min in 2026Lower than national (162 min) | 162 min | Up from 109 min in 2020 |
| Appropriate sepsis care (higher is better) | 55% in 2026Lower than national (65%) | 65% | — |
| C. diff infections (lower is better)Standardized infection ratio: 1.00 means as many infections as predicted | 0.86 in 2024Lower than national (1.00) | 1.00 | Up from 0.00 in 2021 |
Common questions
Where is Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital located?
Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital is at 57 Water Street, Blue Hill, ME 04614 in Hancock County. Its main phone number is (207) 374-2836.
What type of hospital is Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital?
CMS lists Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital as a critical access hospital. Ownership is listed as voluntary non-profit - private.
What is Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital's CMS star rating?
CMS has not given Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital an overall star rating in its latest release, usually because the hospital did not report enough measures (or is a type of hospital CMS does not rate).
Does Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital have an emergency room?
Yes. Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital offers emergency services. Patients who were treated and sent home (excluding psychiatric and transferred patients) spent a median of 118 min in the emergency department (national median: 162 min). In an emergency, call 911.
How many beds does Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital have?
Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital has 25 beds, according to CMS's Provider of Services file. Doctors in 28 specialties are affiliated with the hospital.
What hospitals are near Northern Light Blue Hill Memorial Hospital?
The closest hospitals of the same type are Mount Desert Island Hospital (19.2 miles, Bar Harbor), Mainehealth Waldo Hospital (20.1 miles, Belfast), Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital (46.7 miles, Pittsfield), LincolnHealth (53.9 miles, Damariscotta) and Down East Community Hospital (58.7 miles, Machias).