Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and President of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and Joseph Pepe, MD, CEO and President of GraniteOne Health, announced today that nine months after signing a Letter of Intent (LOI), the Boards of Trustees of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH) and GraniteOne Health (GOH) and their member organizations have signed a Combination Agreement to combine the two health care systems. The Most Reverend Peter Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, has also issued a nihil obstat, or declaration of no objection, allowing the Combination to proceed. These steps mark significant milestones in the approval process; the health care systems are now preparing their submissions to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts Unit and Consumer Protection Bureau, as well as to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for review and approval.
The combined non-profit health care system, which will be called Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health GraniteOne, will build on years of existing successful community engagement and clinical collaborations, and will meet the growing demand for seamlessly integrated primary, specialty, ambulatory, and inpatient care throughout the region. The result will be a high-quality, lower-cost, New Hampshire-based alternative to out-of-state providers.
“We are extremely proud of the diligence and exhaustive work that the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and GraniteOne Health teams have put into developing this comprehensive agreement,” said Vincent Conti, MHA, Chair of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health Board of Trustees. “Our board unanimously approved this agreement because we truly believe it is a positive and transformative step for the people of New Hampshire and our respective organizations. Every one of us is anxious to begin the new work to fully realize the potential of our new relationship.”
“Throughout this process, we have learned so much about what makes each of our organizations important to our communities,” said Rick Botnick, Chair of the GraniteOne Health Board of Trustees. “The system we are forming honors those long-standing commitments and builds on our clinical excellence, to create opportunities for all of New Hampshire to enjoy better health.”
The combined and integrated system will transform health care delivery in New Hampshire while maintaining member’s local identities, traditions and community commitments, including the distinct Catholic model of health care provided by Catholic Medical Center. All organizations within the combined system will also keep their current names and local leadership.
“Our goal has been, and continues to be, to provide access to the highest-quality care for the people of New Hampshire, right here at home,” said Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and President of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health. “Combining our systems will enable us to more effectively and efficiently use the existing capacity of our two systems, expand capacity where and when necessary, and enhance existing services across all the hospitals in our systems and in our communities, in order to meet growing patient demand, particularly in southern New Hampshire.”
“I’ve worked in health care in New Hampshire for 30 years and have seen firsthand, in business and in our communities, that we can achieve great things when we work together,” said Joseph Pepe, MD, CEO of GraniteOne Health. “Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health GraniteOne is an example of that—a real New Hampshire-based solution to provide the best care, in the right place, at the right time.”
More information and updates about this combination can be found at ForAHealthierNH.org
View the Combination Agreement. (PDF)
In the photo (left to right): Monadnock Community Hospital CEO Cynthia McGuire, FACHE; GraniteOne Health Board of Trustees Chair Rick Botnick; GraniteOne Health CEO and Catholic Medical Center President & CEO Joseph Pepe, MD; Huggins Hospital CEO Jeremy Roberge, CPA.
About Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health:
DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK HEALTH (D-HH), New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves a population of 1.9 million across northern New England. D-HH provides access to more than 1,800 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. DHMC was named in 2019 as the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and recognized for high performance in 13 clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth-Hitchcock also includes the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of only 51 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation; the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the state’s only children’s hospital; affiliated member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, and New London, NH, and Windsor, VT, and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and 24 Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinics that provide ambulatory services across New Hampshire and Vermont. The D-HH system trains nearly 400 residents and fellows annually, and performs world-class research, in partnership with the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT.
About GraniteOne Health: GraniteOne Health (GOH) is a network of New Hampshire hospitals that combines their experience, resources, and expertise to provide exceptional care to individuals and families across the Granite State. Member hospitals which include Catholic Medical Center (CMC) in Manchester and its nationally renowned New England Heart & Vascular Institute, Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro, and Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough. A non-profit, community-based health care system, GraniteOne Health offers access points throughout New Hampshire to advanced clinical services such as open-heart surgery, angioplasty, minimally invasive heart valve and vascular surgery, cancer care, comprehensive weight loss management, orthopedics, innovative maternal health services and over 30 other medical and surgical subspecialties. GraniteOne Health gives patients access to high-quality, coordinated care across the continuum of health.