A proposed merger between Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and GraniteOne Health has been canceled.
The news comes after the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office issued a report that it objected to the merger on the basis that it violates New Hampshire law. News that the merger was dead was first reported by VTDigger.
The proposed merger would have brought together two competing health care systems with many hospitals, physician practices and outpatient services, resulting in a single system ultimately to be controlled by Dartmouth Health, the Attorney General’s Office said. Dartmouth Health is New Hampshire's only academic health system and the state's largest private employer. It provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine. GraniteOne is a network of New Hampshire hospitals. The two health systems originally announced their intent to merge in 2019.
The cancellation comes at a time when health system mergers have been under increased scrutiny. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in 2019 it would study the effect of hospital and health system mergers to understand the impact on patients, healthcare costs and competition. Some studies have suggested hospital and health systems mergers actually drive up the cost of healthcare for patients and reduce competition.
According to the New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, the merger between GraniteOne and Dartmouth was a bridge too far for anti competitive laws.
"Free, fair and robust competition is critical to providing employers and patients with options for lower cost and high quality healthcare services," Formella said in a statement. "Our state has experienced significant consolidation in healthcare over the past several years, and this transaction seeking to combine two of our top four largest systems is unacceptable without appropriate protections for consumers in place."
The AG’s office noted the merger would “end the existing competition between the two systems,” and therefore violates state and federal law without remedies to anticompetitive harm.
This is not the first time the AG has objected to a proposed merger involving Dartmouth Health. The health system attempted to acquire GraniteOne’s flagship hospital, Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Charitable Trusts Unit objected to that merger in 2010, and the deal subsequently fell apart.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."