Catholic Medical Center (CMC) in Manchester, Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro, and Monadnock Community Hospital (MCH) in Peterborough are officially filing to affiliate. The filing, being submitted to the Charitable Trusts Unit of the NH Attorney General’s Office, details the terms of their affiliation after an extensive period of due diligence, approval of the agreement by all three hospital boards, and, with respect to CMC, approval of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Manchester.
CMC previously announced a Letter of Intent to affiliate with Huggins Hospital in November 2015 and an Letter of intent with Monadnock Community Hospital in January 2016. The agreement will be be reviewed by regulators. Under the terms of the Affiliation Agreement, CMC, Huggins, and MCH will continue to operate with assets and liabilities remaining unchanged. Huggins and MCH will continue to be secular, nonprofit community hospitals, and CMC will continue operating as a Catholic, nonprofit acute healthcare system. The hospitals will maintain separate boards as well as their respective charitable missions, values and traditions. Philanthropic gifts given to each hospital will be used to benefit their local community. Hospitals’ names, logos, and staff will remain. An overarching nonprofit system parent called GraniteOne Health will ensure strategic direction and initiatives for the affiliated system.
The affiliation is not an acquisition as no assets will be exchanged, nor is it a merger as staffs and physicians will continue to work for their respective hospitals. The affiliation allows for Huggins and Monadnock Community Hospitals to forge stronger ties in clinical partnerships with CMC, as well as leverage their resources to build economies of scale. The goals of this affiliation include providing quality care at a lower cost with added services.
“This New Hampshire-based, New Hampshire-focused collaboration allows us to effectively use our resources and expertise to improve quality, cost, and access to health care,” says Dr. Joseph Pepe, president and CEO of Catholic Medical Center, a 330-bed acute care hospital with 2,500 employees and more than 700 physicians, specialists and other providers. “It builds on the long and successful existing clinical relationships between CMC and these two, strong critical access hospitals.” CMC was ranked by Truven Analytics as one of the “Top 50 in the Nation” of cardiovascular hospitals and was named the 2015 Healthcare Business of the Year by Business NH Magazine.
“We are excited to move forward in ensuring quality health care stays close to home,” says Jeremy Roberge, interim president and CEO of Huggins Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital with 400 employees that serves 30,000 year-round residents and approximately 120,000 seasonal residents in 14 towns . “CMC and Huggins Hospital have been working together for many years to improve access to cardiology and vascular care for our patients and, in the last month, have begun collaborating on shared hospitalists.” Huggins is recognized as a HEALTHSTRONG Hospital and has been named a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital for the past five years by iVantage Health Analytics as well as a Top 20 Critical Access Hospital for quality in 2016.
Similar collaborations have also existed for years between CMC and Monadnock Community Hospital, which also work together on neurology and laboratory services. “We have successfully met the healthcare needs of the Monadnock region for 90 years,” says Cynthia McGuire, president and CEO of Monadnock Community Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital with 500 employees , serving 40,000 residents in 14 towns . “This affiliation is a logical and strategic step to ensure that access to local, high-quality health care continues and grows for many years to come.” Monadnock Community Hospital was named among the “Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the U.S.” by ivantagehealth.com in 2015 and 2016.
The regulatory approval process will include further opportunities for comment by the general public and stakeholders of the three hospitals. It is expected the affiliation will be approved and fully executed by the end of the year.
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