LEGAL NEWSLINE

Attorney General John Formella announces the release of the first annual monitor report regarding Beth Israel Lahey Health (“BILH”) and Exeter Health Resources’ (“EHR”) (collectively “the Parties”) compliance with the terms of the Final Judgment. The Parties and the Attorney General negotiated terms of a Final Judgment last year, which was entered by the Merrimack Superior Court on June 29, 2023. The Parties closed the affiliation transaction on July 1, 2023, when EHR joined BILH.

The Final Judgment contains numerous agreed upon terms to ensure consumers have certain protections and the Exeter Community receives all of the promised benefits of the transaction. A key component of the Final Judgment was to have public transparency regarding the compliance with the terms of the Final Judgment.

To ensure public transparency, BILH was required to hire a third-party compliance monitor, Grant Thornton, to provide an annual public report (“Report”) of the Parties’ compliance with the terms of the Final Judgment. For the Year 1 Report, the monitoring period was from July 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023. The Report focuses primarily on the requirements with complete compliance deadlines that fall within the period.

Since the reporting period for the first year was only three months, many of the requirements will be reported on in subsequent reports. Grant Thornton did not note any instances or evidence of noncompliance in its Report. Some compliance terms include the following:

• The charity care polices for Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians have not changed.
• Based on service line metrics provided by EHR, an evaluation of facility changes, and EHR’s commitment towards capital projects to keep care in the EHR service area, Grant Thornton noted no evidence of noncompliance with maintaining care within the EHR Service Area.
• All pre-existing commercial payor contracts were honored during Year 1.
• There were no instances of noncompliance found with physician contracts in violation of New Hampshire RSA § 329:31-a related to any restriction on the right to practice medicine after termination of an employment relationship.
• BILH paid $1,000,000 to the State’s Health Care Consumer Protection Trust Fund for the benefit of New Hampshire health care consumers.

“The Monitor’s Report provides public transparency on the terms and compliance of the Final Judgment,” said Attorney General Formella. “It is critical for the Exeter community and New Hampshire consumers to have insight on Exeter Health Resources post-transaction and accountability that the Parties are meeting their obligations under the Final Judgment. We are thankful for the Parties’ cooperation with monitoring and meeting their obligations under the Final Judgment and for Grant Thornton’s role as the Monitor.”

Original source can be found here.