Frequently Asked Questions

The GraniteOne Health affiliation creates more opportunities for patients and their families to have greater access to high quality, affordable care, closer to home. It also assists our individual member hospitals in recruiting and retaining clinical care providers. As one of New Hampshire’s largest acute-care hospitals, based in the state’s largest city, Catholic Medical Center is able to extend more of its award-winning services to long-standing strategic partners. The result for all members of GraniteOne Health is execution of a shared vision of providing high quality, value-based care for patients and communities.

The healthcare industry is undergoing major and transformative changes which are driven by many factors: healthcare reform, the increasing presence of government payers like Medicare and Medicaid that do not cover the full cost of care, an aging population, a move from a “fee-for-service” model to one based on patient health outcomes, and additional regulatory and market-based uncertainty. Organizations that have an eye toward the future will be proactive. In order to be successful, it is critical to increase scale, scope and geographic reach while maintaining a strong local and community focus.

Unlike a merger, in an affiliation, no assets are exchanged. The hospitals, staff, and physicians are not combined. Medical staff at the hospitals remain separate because the credentialing of each organization must remain distinct. Credentialing of medical staff is performed by each hospital’s respective Boards. Resources are shared, but the hospitals continue to operate as their own entities for a seamless patient experience. 

In this affiliation

  • The assets and liabilities of each hospital are separate, but services are coordinated.
  • The hospitals retain their names and unique local brand identities.
  • Huggins Hospital and Monadnock Community Hospital remain separate, secular (non-religious), non-profit hospitals.
  • CMC remains a separate, Catholic, non-profit hospital.
  • Each hospital maintains its own separate, locally-focused Board of Trustees.
  • GraniteOne Health is an overarching non-profit system parent, with a governing Board (majority representation from CMC) to ensure strategic direction and initiatives for the system.

With respect to the original affiliation, no changes to staffing levels were. The goal of GraniteOne Health is to increase access to services for our member hospitals’ communities while helping the hospitals prepare for changes in healthcare such as healthcare reform and other marketplace pressures. Our member hospitals will achieve cost effectiveness through a variety of methods, such as bulk purchasing and consolidation of vendors, in order to realize greater economies of scale. 

People like their local hospitals, and GraniteOne Health is about preserving and enhancing that experience. Any changes are designed to be gradual and positive, giving you streamlined processes that improve your experience — as well as increased local access to an array of expert services.  

One of the goals of GraniteOne Health is to work together to increase resources and help our member hospitals achieve economies of scale – with the goal of providing the most cost-efficient, high quality care possible.

It is not the intention of the member hospitals to consolidate existing clinical services, but rather, to increase access to a greater number of services. The healthcare landscape will continue to evolve and one of the goals of the affiliation is to strengthen our ability to provide high quality care well into the future.

A major goal of the affiliation is to expand access to primary and specialty services. The hospitals of GraniteOne Health will continue to identify and create programs to improve access across the entire spectrum of care, from primary care to highly specialized services like cardiology, vascular and laboratory services, in order to more effectively benefit the health of their communities. 

Yes. Patients will always have a choice in their provider options. This affiliation means that patients have greater access to primary and specialty care, especially highly specialized care, with a seamless patient experience. 

Each GraniteOne Health member hospital continues to honor its respective donor restrictions. Restricted endowment fund expenditures remain under local control. Unrestricted funds will only be used for the benefit of the intended hospital communities or groups. 

Our member hospitals’ individual Boards remain active and engaged. Decisions still originate at the local level where there is direct experience and interaction with patients and the local community. There is an added level of integration through the reserved powers of GraniteOne’s Board to implement the System’s strategic objectives (discussed below).

The ERDs are the ethical guidelines governing Catholic healthcare institutions such as CMC. CMC continues to comply with the ERDs and the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. The ERDs do not apply to secular hospitals such as Huggins Hospital and Monadnock Community Hospital. These member hospitals continue to provide the same procedures and services as were provided before the affiliation. The Bishop continues to have the same means to exercise his reserved powers and oversight over CMC only. GraniteOne Health, Huggins Hospital and Monadnock Community Hospital are secular, while there is no change to CMC’s Catholic identity and adherence to ethical guidelines. 

GraniteOne Health has a Board of Trustees made up of appointees from CMC, Huggins Hospital and Monadnock Community Hospital — with majority representation from CMC. The primary charge of that Board is to establish and maintain a system-wide strategic plan for the System. CMC, Huggins Hospital and Monadnock Community Hospital continue to have governing Boards that are responsible for the operation of their respective hospitals and the implementation of the GraniteOne Health strategic plan at each member hospital. 

GraniteOne Health has high-level oversight over Huggins Hospital and Monadnock Community Hospital and jointly oversees CMC along with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Manchester. 

No. This affiliation does not have an impact on either hospital’s eligibility to be federally designated as a Critical Access Hospital.