Joseph Pepe, president and CEO of Catholic Medical Center in Manchester.
Catholic Medical Center (CMC) in Manchester and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) formed a clinical affiliation that will increase access to certain specialized services and treatments for NH residents.
"Mass General is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, and it's less than an hour from Manchester," says Joseph Pepe, president and CEO of CMC. "This collaboration will add to the expertise CMC provides its patients, in a setting close to home. This is an exciting opportunity for both our patients and the clinical team here at CMC."
The two hospitals intend to work together in several areas, including: Substance use disorder prevention and treatment, neuroscience (stroke treatment), and heart and vascular. If a cardiac patient is considered for a procedure not performed at CMC, such as evaluation for a potential heart transplant or a left ventricular assist device, the doctors at both hospitals will work together to coordinate care and maximize pre-and post-operative care. "Every year, we see a handful of patients who present an uncommon or exceptionally complex condition," says Dr. Louis Fink, executive medical director of the New England Heart & Vascular Institute at CMC. "It will be very rewarding and exciting to collaborate with the renowned physicians at MGH to treat these patients."
CMC will also be part of the Home Base Program, a collaboration between the Red Sox Foundation and the MGH that recognizes the need for and offers clinical and support services to veterans in New England who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Home Base is a resource for those vets, regardless of discharge status or ability to pay, who suffer from combat- and deployment-related stress as well as traumatic brain injury as well as their families.
While this clinical affiliation will allow CMC and Mass General to work more closely and efficiently together in these areas, it will not financially or structurally tie the organizations together. "We have already been working together on some of our most complex patients," says. Pepe. "It makes sense to continue building on that relationship to include areas where Mass General's experience can best serve the residents of Manchester area."