Healthcare Consumer Protection Commission To Hold Public Meetings in Communities Impacted by Hospital Mergers
Frisbie Memorial Hospital was acquired by HCA Healthcare
First Public Meeting Scheduled for May 28 at Rochester Public Library
Across New Hampshire, patients, families, and local businesses are feeling the impact of health care consolidation. Hospital mergers are driving up costs, limiting choices, and reducing access to essential services like primary care, maternity care, and mental health support.
In response to growing public concern, and the need for greater oversight to protect the public interest, state leaders have created the Healthcare Consumer Protection Advisory Commission (the Commission) to work in partnership with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. The role of the Commission is to evaluate the impacts of healthcare consolidation and make recommendations for investments to protect the needs of consumers.
The Commission has announced a series of public meetings to hear directly from those impacted — an opportunity for citizen participation to help shape a health care system that is more affordable, more accountable, and truly focused on the needs of Granite Staters. The first meeting is slated for Rochester on May 28th.
The New Hampshire Health Cost Initiative is pleased to share the news of these public meetings and encourage community members to take part in these important conversations.
Hospital Mergers are Driving Up Costs and Reducing Access
New Hampshire health care consumers have seen significant negative impacts as a result of hospital industry consolidation, including rising costs for healthcare services and health insurance and shrinking access to providers of care. These mergers have accelerated the shift in ownership and control of larger health care resources away from local, non-profit, community governance, and toward corporate, for-profit, regional and national hospital systems.
While hospital leaders have repeatedly claimed that mergers are necessary to keep financially stressed hospitals open and to preserve basic services, the reality has brought a range of harms, seen and unseen, that have worsened our healthcare crisis. In some communities, hospital mergers have resulted in the closing of community-based care like labor and delivery units or hospital-affiliated primary care and mental health practices. These reductions disrupt long-standing patient-provider relationships and force patients to wait longer for appointments or travel out of their communities for routine care. Navigating such changes in providers and increases in distance is particularly difficult for patients who already struggle to access care, such as people who are elderly, disabled, or lack reliable transportation.
As a result of mergers, an increasing number of independent community hospitals are now part of larger health systems. A growing number of physician medical practices are affiliated with or owned by a hospital or health system. As health care becomes more consolidated, patients have fewer choices and providers can charge more, and they do.
A New Commission Is Taking a Closer Look
A group of New Hampshire leaders, working with the Attorney General, are examining how mergers are impacting the cost and availability of care for patients, families and businesses here in the Granite State. They are asking questions like:
What has been the impact on cost, access and provider networks for local health care consumers and the local economy?
How has access to primary care and specialty providers been impacted in the aftermath of a merger?
What has been the impact on community investment /benefit and the availability of charity care?
What more can be done to protect access to care and meet the needs of health care consumers and vulnerable communities after a hospital merger comes to town?
The Healthcare Consumer Protection Advisory Commission was established to ensure that funds from healthcare merger settlements are used transparently and strategically to benefit consumers across New Hampshire. The Commission’s work includes examining the factors that are contributing to rising healthcare costs and making recommendations for investments and solutions that will improve affordability and access for Granite Staters.
An Opportunity to Act Now and Lift Up Consumer Voices
The Commission has recently announced plans to hold public meetings this spring and summer in Rochester, Exeter, and Claremont to gather community input on rising healthcare costs and to identify challenges and changes to accessing care in these regions in the aftermath of hospital consolidation in recent years.
Rochester Meeting Details:
Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Time: 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Location: Rochester Public Library - Community Room
65 South Main Street, Rochester, NH
Public input is crucial.
These meetings are an opportunity for residents to voice concerns and ideas on how best to use Commission funds to improve access, affordability, and community health across the state.
The Commission has expressed an open invitation to community members to “Tell Us Your Healthcare Story”. Through these upcoming public meetings, the Commission seeks to gather insight from patients, providers, community leaders, and advocates to better understand the real-world impact of healthcare consolidation and give local residents a chance to weigh in on solutions.
These conversations will help guide the Commission’s recommendations on how to deploy available resources in ways that support vulnerable populations, strengthen community health systems, and drive meaningful improvements in access to care.
At the New Hampshire Health Cost Initiative we are connecting with community voices and identifying and creating opportunities for dialogue across stakeholders. Developing trust and accountability are all essential to building a stronger, more responsive healthcare system in New Hampshire. By engaging with communities and stakeholders most directly impacted by recent hospital service changes, the Commission can help advance and inform the dialogue toward a shared vision for a system that works better for everyone.
Why These Communities?
Rochester: Once a full-service community hospital, Frisbie Memorial Hospital was acquired by HCA Healthcare of Nashville, TN, in March of 2020. Read more here.
Exeter: Exeter Hospital and its affiliated medical practices merged with Massachusetts-based Beth Israel Lahey Health in June of 2023. Read more here.
Claremont: After a multi-year affiliation, Valley Regional Hospital merged with Dartmouth Health in August, 2024. Read more here.
You can keep up to date with the Commission’s plans here and follow the work of the NH Health Cost Initiative here.
