ROCKLAND – Northeast Health Inc. and Mid-Coast Mental Health Center have begun discussing a possible merger.

Over the next several months, the boards of directors of the two not-for-profit organizations will consider the potential implications of such a merger.

NEH runs Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice, Penobscot Bay Physicians & Associates, Quarry Hill in Camden and the Knox Center for Long-term Care in Rockland.

Mid-Coast Mental Health is a comprehensive community mental health provider, offering outpatient and residential mental health treatment and services in 10 offices in Knox and Waldo counties.

The two organizations collaborate on mental health patient care. The idea behind a merger would be to provide greater continuity of care and eliminate duplication of services.

A merger could also increase access to mental health care by allowing use of the primary care physician’s office as a gateway to mental health care.

“An adolescent in distress might feel comfortable talking with her pediatrician, who, after ruling out physical causes, might say, ‘I have this therapist working with me. Let’s go down the hall and meet with her,'” said Dan Bennett, Mid-Coast Mental Health’s director.