On the day of her son’s school graduation, Sandwich resident Siobhán Connelly called her primary care doctor about an urgent medical matter.
The person who answered the phone gave her two options: go to urgent care, where she would bear the $100 cost out of pocket, or travel an hour to an affiliated doctor’s office in Franklin.
Connelly chose the latter option. It wasn’t until a few days later that she learned her own doctor was never alerted to her call.
“My primary care provider was actually not offered the chance to see me or my son and would have seen me that day,” Connelly said.
Connelly, a lifelong central New Hampshire resident, said the experience was emblematic of the ways healthcare and its delivery has changed since Lakes Region General Hospital and Franklin Regional Hospital were acquired by Concord Hospital in 2021.
Her comments came at a meeting in Tilton on Wednesday held by a state commission that is tasked with advising the attorney general on how to spend approximately $19.5 million committed to a fund to support communities affected by hospital consolidation.
The feedback provided by members of the public, medical providers, and nursing home administrators about the impact of the Laconia and Franklin acquisitions was mixed.
Doctors said the purchase, which was prompted by the impending bankruptcy of LRGHealthcare, had led to expanded primary care in the Lakes Region and greater access to important technology.
“From my view, this merger has been better than I could have possibly dreamed,” said Dr. Jason Mangiardi, an otolaryngologist who practices out of the Laconia location. “Since the merger, they’ve invested millions in maintaining and expanding services that we didn’t have prior.”
Leaders of area nursing homes also said that the consolidation had improved their ability to communicate with hospital staff and streamline care for their residents.
Healthcare consumers, however, were less bullish on the change. Like Connelly, those who spoke said the acquisition led to increased bureaucracy and made it more difficult for them to communicate with their medical providers. They also said that, like many hospitals across the country, emergency room wait times had increased.
The feedback was light on suggestions for how the state should spend its money, which comes from settlements and judgments in acquisition proceedings.
Rosemary Simino, the administrator of Golden View Health Care Center in Meredith, encouraged spending on mobile X-ray and lab services. “That would alleviate pressure on the system as a whole,” she said.
The trust fund, established in 2023, currently holds $3.7 million, with the rest of the nearly $20 million committed through 2037.
So far, the state has agreed to spend $1.4 million on an advanced life support program in Plaistow and $1.6 million on the establishment of a new research center at the University of New Hampshire to study the impact of healthcare consolidation.
In this round of funding decisions, the commission is accepting proposals until June 30. Individuals can submit proposals here.
