Combined system would provide New Hampshire residents with greater access to all levels of medical care closer to home

Lebanon & Manchester, NH (January 24, 2019)
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH) and GraniteOne Health (GOH) today announced that they have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to combine their two organizations to better serve the health care needs of New Hampshire residents and communities.  The combined non-profit health care system, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health GraniteOne, will build on years of successful community engagement and clinical collaboration in order to meet the growing demand for seamlessly integrated primary, specialty, ambulatory and inpatient care, offering patients a high-quality, lower-cost, New Hampshire-based alternative choice to out-of-state providers.

The non-binding LOI is the first step in a well-defined and lengthy process that involves further due diligence, opportunities for public input, negotiation of final terms, approval by each organization’s Board of Trustees and the Bishop of Manchester, and review by federal and state regulators.  As a combined system, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health GraniteOne will seek to:

• Expand access to high-quality care for individuals and families throughout New Hampshire
• Respond to growing demand for inpatient, specialty and sub-specialty services, particularly in southern New Hampshire
• Extend and reinforce health care services in rural communities
• Coordinate and strengthen efforts to address behavioral health and substance use disorder
• Improve the health of populations suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and obesity, leading to better long term health and lowering long term healthcare costs
• Address social determinants of health such as nutrition and food security, access to preventative care, and educational opportunity

"As the health care landscape continues to evolve, it is important for health care systems to evaluate how we can best serve our patients and communities, and prepare for the future so we can continue to provide the high level of care that people expect,” said Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and President of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health.  “By combining these two top health care organizations, we would create a patient-focused, unique and unparalleled option for New Hampshire that is responsive to community needs and patients’ desire for cost-effective, high-quality care.”

"For 15 years, our two organizations have worked closely together to improve the lives and health of our patients and their families,” said Joseph Pepe, MD, CEO of GraniteOne Health. “We have complementary visions for what health care in New Hampshire could be.  Combining systems would allow us to advance that vision, expanding access to primary and specialty care for all New Hampshire residents, including vulnerable patients and communities.”

The combined system will transform health care delivery in New Hampshire.  Catholic Medical Center, one of the members of GraniteOne Health, will continue to adhere to its Catholic model of care while D-HH will continue to serve its patients as it does today in all its existing health care facilities. All organizations within the combined system would also keep their current names, identities, and local leadership.

“I am impressed with the deliberate discussions that have taken place thus far and I believe that this combined system would strengthen Catholic Medical Center’s ability to care for the suffering and sick in our community, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of its Catholic identity,” said the Most Reverend Peter Libasci, Bishop of Manchester.  Bishop Libasci and the National Catholic Bioethics Center are actively engaged in this process. According to Dr. Pepe, their participation ensures that “CMC’s Catholic identity will be preserved and our mission will be as strong as ever under the proposed combination.”

“We respect and admire CMC’s historical and unique role in the Greater Manchester community and its Catholic health care mission,” said Dr. Conroy.  “Health care is a deeply personal experience and it is important to assure all our patients that they will continue to receive the health care services they want and need, at the place and time they want them.  We look forward to a thorough and thoughtful process informed by public input so we can create the kind of health care system that the people of New Hampshire deserve.”

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health is a non-profit, regional academic health system that provides primary and specialty care to patients in New Hampshire and Vermont.  Anchored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire’s only academic medical center providing ambulatory and inpatient hospital services to the region’s most acutely ill patients, D-HH is home to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of 49 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the country, and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD), New Hampshire’s only children’s hospital.  GraniteOne Health is a non-profit, community-based health care system that offers coordinated care and access to specialists for patients across New Hampshire.  It includes Catholic Medical Center (CMC) in Manchester, with its nationally renowned New England Heart & Vascular Institute, which has offered leading-edge heart and vascular care at locations state-wide for more than 30 years, as well as Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro and Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough.

This press release is also available as a PDF.
Click here for the full Letter of Intent (PDF).