The COVID-19 pandemic hit the health care industry particularly hard, and some hospitals and medical centers have yet to fully recover from the toll it took on them financially and from a workforce perspective.
At Lamprey Health Care, with locations in Nashua, Newmarket and Raymond, major projects and a flooded facility only compounded those challenges.
“Coming out of the Covid era, we found ourselves in a situation where we had a construction project going on in this building [in Nashua]. We had a catastrophic pipe freezing event in our Newmarket building and had a planned electronic medical record [rollout] go live all within a 12-month period,” recalls Gregory White, then CEO of Lamprey Health Care. “Things were tough. Finances were a little tight. I think it just got to the point where we needed to think about doing something differently.”
White proposed a unique leadership model to the board of directors: elevating Sue Durkin, a member of the leadership team with a nursing background, to be co-CEO with White, a CPA and Certified Health Financial Professional.
In 2023, they launched a new leadership model and today White and Durkin guide the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in NH. And it has yielded impressive results for this expansive and complex 55-year-old health system that serves more than
40 communities.
In 2025, Lamprey achieved a 7.04% operating surplus, reversing prior-year deficits, while increasing staffing by more than 6% and expanding services. “We have really focused internally on workforce and building a positive culture and environment that people want to work in,” Durkin says.
Last year, Lamprey served 17,471 patients, an increase of 4% over 2024, with total patient visits increasing by 24% year over year. Clinical outcomes improved, including strengthened hypertension control and expansion of programs.
Retinal screening services were launched to enhance early detection and prevention of diabetes-related complications. And its mobile health unit is bringing care to vulnerable patients in the community who can’t make it to health centers.
“We’ve also expanded our services. We have an on-site pharmacy that we partner with in Raymond, which we’ve never had available. We have a very robust diabetes education program, a substance use treatment program and behavioral health,”
Durkin says.
Beyond delivering more health care to its patients, Lamprey is dedicated to providing high-quality care. In 2025, Lamprey achieved multiple first-time national recognitions for quality, improved access, and chronic disease management. Lamprey’s Nurse Practitioner Fellowship Program and Medical Assistant Training Program create sustainable pipelines of talent for the organization.
“The health center is a patient-centered medical home for over 17,000 patients, many of whom have difficult lives (over half are under 200% of the federal poverty level) and require extra supports—navigation services, supplemental nutrition assistance, language supports, etc.—to thrive,” says Tess Stack Kuenning, president and CEO at Bi-State Primary Care Association.
“Greg and Sue have created and maintained the environment for these patients to receive exemplary primary care, resulting in healthier individuals, families,
and communities,” Kuenning continues.
White and Durkin say they are proud of both their staff and the partnerships they have formed in the community to better meet the needs of their patients. “We very much value partnerships,” White says, adding they look for partnerships that allow them to achieve better outcomes for their patients, such as working with a local food pantry to bring health care to their populations though the mobile health unit.
“It feels like we’ve reached out of the building and we’re meeting patients where they’re at. It’s also helped us build more connection with the community and the communities around us. That, I feel very proud of,” he says.
Durkin says one of the biggest challenges facing Lamprey is the changes to Medicaid that will impact finances. “That is a really big concern. We serve patients, regardless of their ability to pay. And we anticipate that our uninsured group of patients is going to increase, which is certainly going to put a strain on our financial picture, as well as a strain on our workforce,” she says. “You have to figure out, ‘How am I going to get them into a specialist? How are we going to have their meds covered?’ We have resources, and we certainly can help with them, but it’s just more complex.”
It is another hurdle the duo will tackle together. And it is that unique co-leadership model that is one of the many strengths of this organization. They attribute the success of their partnership to mutual respect, shared values, and bringing different perspectives that allow them to find solutions.
“I have worked with both Sue and Greg for 20-plus years,” Kuenning says, noting both held leadership positions at other NH health centers prior to joining Lamprey. “They complement each other perfectly and together have shaped the health center movement in New Hampshire, providing leadership to their colleagues and nurturing the next generation of health center leaders.”
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