THIS YEAR marks Exeter Hospital’s 125th anniversary. Over that time, generations of skilled health care workers and support staff have provided compassionate and steadfast care to the seacoast community. As president and CEO of Exeter Health Resources, which includes Exeter Hospital, Core Physicians and Rockingham Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice, it is my immense honor to be part of an institution with such a rich tradition of service and exceptional care. It is an exciting moment to be reflecting back on the history of Exeter, while working to prepare it for all the challenges the future holds.
With that in mind, I was thrilled to share the news recently that Exeter signed a Letter of Intent with Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) to formally explore the opportunity to join the BILH family.
BILH is an integrated health system with 13 hospitals and a full continuum of primary, specialty, behavioral and home-based care and it is the region’s only large-scale academic health system where the majority of care is delivered in community-based settings.
Our decision, which was carefully considered by our board of trustees and senior leadership team, represents the first step towards a possible affiliation that will strengthen Exeter and our charitable mission for the future, while enhancing and expanding local access to high quality care in New Hampshire.
Exeter’s selection of BILH is the culmination of a yearlong competitive evaluation that considered multiple health systems across New Hampshire and the broader New England Region. After extensive analysis and consideration, Exeter’s Board chose BILH given their capabilities and our shared values and commitment to ensuring that Exeter patients have enduring access to world-class care, close to home. BILH’s commitment includes significant new investments aimed at expanding our locally delivered, full continuum of clinical services in a seamless, coordinated, and cost-effective manner, establishing Exeter as Seacoast patients’ premier destination for health care in New Hampshire.
Exeter is one of New Hampshire’s last remaining independent community-based health systems. Despite our long and successful history, our need to affiliate is stronger now than ever, not only due to fundamental changes in the economics of health care, but also as a result of two difficult years of real disruption caused by the COVID pandemic.
As a small-scale health system, we have an unwavering charitable mission to continually improve the health of our communities. To successfully fulfill that vital mission for the next 125 years, while addressing the Seacoast’s growing health care needs, we need a trusted partner with whom we can sustainably grow our resources, competencies, capabilities and infrastructure.
Our intent is to achieve those objectives through a carefully thought out affiliation with BILH that maintains our local identity, culture, and New Hampshire based leadership. BILH is an outstanding organization with renowned teaching hospitals on the leading edge of advancing medical care and with an unsurpassed reputation built upon quality, compassionate care, and thoughtful community engagement.
The opportunity for Exeter to join with BILH is an important, responsible step towards ensuring our long-term sustainability while advancing health care on the local level here in New Hampshire. I am confident that once our affiliation is approved and finalized it will result in greater access to health care services, more patient choice, and a significant advancement in affordable and sustainable healthcare for all of New Hampshire.
We are excited about what this new proposed affiliation can bring to our communities and we look forward to sharing additional information as our journey towards a stronger future continues.
Kevin Callahan is president and CEO of Exeter Health Resources. He lives in New Castle.
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