Healthcare Consumer Protection Advisory Commission Update: New Leadership, A Funding Award Clarified, and a Shift Toward Accountability
Healthcare Consumer Protection Advisory Commission Updat
The Healthcare Consumer Protection Advisory Commission held its December 22, 2025, meeting at One Granite Place in Concord, and its proceedings are now recorded for improved public access via Concord Community TV. We embrace this new coverage as a reminder that transparency and public oversight must be central to the Commission’s work.
The latest meeting, held just after the 2-year mark for the Commission’s tenure, was remarkable in three areas:
A change in membership/leadership occurred,
A revised rationale for past funding decision was announced, and
A substantive discussion about establishing criteria for how future grant proposals should be solicited, evaluated, and monitored was begun and prioritized as a future action item.
New Leadership: Attorney General Elected as Chair
At the outset of the meeting it was announced that Dr. Yvonne Goldsberry, president of the Endowment for Health, was no longer serving as a public representative on the Commission. Her appointment was not renewed. This is unwelcome news to many healthcare experts and advocates who have engaged with the Commission since its inception and appreciated Dr. Goldsberry’s expertise and consumer-focused leadership.
Dr. Mitchell Cohen of Nashua, a primary-care physician with a current focus in addiction medicine, was introduced as a new member appointed by Governor Kelly Ayotte to fill the seat.
NH Attorney General John Formella was unanimously voted in as the new Chair. In supporting him in this role, Commission members thanked him for his stewardship of this important work on behalf of healthcare consumers and urged him to maintain focus on the Trust Fund’s intended purpose and fiduciary responsibility.
Reframing Past Funding Award: From an Approved “Grant” to a “Pilot”
The Attorney General acknowledged that the Commission had received written correspondence from stakeholders requesting information about the status of the Trust Fund and seeking more transparency regarding the Commission’s process for making grants. During the discussion of the minutes of the last meeting, the Attorney General offered additional information and perspective with regard to the Merrimack Adult Day Services transportation award. At the Commission’s October meeting there was dissent by the public members and a DHHS representative who opposed the awarding of this funding and many issues remained unsettled and poorly understood.
General Formella acknowledged that this award had been made through a more informal process, and he proposed new language to reflect that the grant to Merrimack Adult Day Services should be understood “simply as a pilot program.” Despite using this new terminology, there was no additional explanation offered as to why Merrimack Adult Day Services was put forward for a fast-track funding award before any other community based organizations have been given the chance to seek the same. It remains unclear how the pilot program was solicited or how this investment advances the Trust Fund’s statutory purpose on behalf of healthcare consumers.
Why the Shift to More Accountability Matters
The above reframing and recognition of due process concerns at the Commission did not happen in a vacuum. Written inquiries from healthcare policy experts and advocates prompted more attention to the statutory purpose of the Commission and a deeper review of the stewardship expectations for the Trust Fund going forward, including how it approves projects and how funding awards should be tracked and evaluated for greatest impact.
As a result, the Commission agreed that future funding decisions should not be made without clearly-established criteria and measurable expectations, including:
Defined project goals and measurable consumer impact,
Reasonable reporting or check-in requirements,
Flexibility tailored to the size and scope of each project, and
A preference for funding upstream solutions that provide system-level impacts.
Going forward, members believe oversight should be proportional—not burdensome—but sufficient to ensure that Trust Fund dollars are delivering real value to healthcare consumers.
Toward a Clearer, More Open Process
Much of the discussion focused on how the Commission should establish criteria and accept and review future proposals. Rather than a full, traditional competitive RFP process used by state agencies, some members discussed creating:
An application intake platform to be hosted on the Commission’s webpage,
A defined window of time for proposal intake,
Clear guidance on what types of projects are eligible and what funding amounts will be considered.
Both of the Commission’s public members. Dr. Ramas and Dr. Cohen, emphasized the importance of greater access for everyday healthcare consumers to the Commission’s meetings and urged greater outreach and accessibility. A call for renewed attention to community listening sessions to inform funding priorities was made, and a reminder to ensure that Commission decisions are grounded in lived experience and real-world needs, not just institutional perspectives.
Exeter, Franklin/Laconia and the North Country were named by the Attorney General as the likely next communities as listening session destinations.
Trust Fund Balance & Future Revenue
A brief financial report from the Attorney General indicated that the Trust Fund had a current balance of $4 million, with some funds obligated to UNH for contracted research. Projected revenue of $1 million each year is due to the Trust Fund from the Exeter / Beth Israel transaction for the remaining years of 2026 - 2032. HCA payments to the Trust Fund for the CMC/Manchester acquisition are projected to be $750,000 annually for ten years, starting in 2027. Half of the HCA funds must be allocated to address healthcare consumer protection needs in the greater Manchester community and the remainder is unrestricted at the Commission’s discretion.
What Happens Next
The December 22 meeting underscored the core challenge to the Commission. With significant, but not unlimited, Trust Fund resources available - members acknowledged the need to be strategic, deliberate, and disciplined in the allocation of funding. By committing to clearer rules and measures going forward, the Commission signaled a maturing approach and a greater recognition of the need to maintain public trust. More details on funding proposals, community engagement, and evaluation criteria are expected to be on the agenda at the Commission’s next meeting.
Please Note: The Commission’s next meeting has now been set for Monday, January 26th at 9:30am at the Attorney General’s office.