Maine's Department of Health and Human Services has refused Home and Community Support Service Agency licenses for two Portland-area provider agency operators and will cut off their MaineCare billing after inspectors cited neglect and safety failures in small group homes. The Portland Press Herald reported the action on Sept. 25, 2026; DHHS spokesman Lindsay Hammes confirmed termination notices went out Sept. 14.
The agencies — Quality Care Access in South Portland and We Care Residential Services in Portland — serve about 35 adults with severe autism and other developmental disabilities under MaineCare HCBS waivers. Primary refusal letters under 10-144 CMR Ch. 108 say neither agency showed it could meet licensing rules.
What inspectors found
At Quality Care's Saco home, DHHS wrote that a medically fragile resident who needed total staff support was left unattended. Other cited problems included missing or outdated support plans, inadequate staff orientation, nutrition and hygiene concerns, and uncorrected dangers at a Westbrook home. Quality Care says it strongly disputes the denial and has appealed.
At We Care, the notice cites structural damage and insufficient food at a New Gloucester home and a March 2024 elopement in which police found a resident in a Falmouth roadway while staff said the person was still in the bedroom. Both agencies were also cited for medication and credentialing failures. DHHS has not accused either of fraud.
Billing was first set to end Sept. 30; WGME reported DHHS later moved the cutoff to midnight Oct. 13 so people can transfer, if the providers cooperate. The Maine Association for Community Service Providers warned that short timelines disrupt people and families who need new homes near their communities.
Why this matters for providers and DSPs
Licensing denials and MaineCare terminations are the sharp end of HCBS oversight: when a DSP or supervisor cannot keep people safe, the whole agency can lose the right to bill. Maine's action lands amid a national fight over Medicaid program integrity in the state, but these two cases turn on documented care failures, not fraud findings. Providers elsewhere should treat orientation, person-centered planning documents, medication systems, and elopement protocols as audit-critical — and plan contingency placements before a billing cutoff lands on the people they support.