In recent years, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has developed new partnerships with other hospitals in the region, including a new arrangement with Mt. Ascutney Hospital in Windsor, Vt., and the controversial partnership with Catholic Medical Center in Manchester. Now, DHMC has looked to potentially expand its services to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vt., as part of its effort to form "community partnerships" and advance local health care, according to Deanna Howard, DHMC's vice president of regional development.
The term "community partnership," which comes from DHMC's mission statement, refers to a number of relationships in which DHMC is a referral center for regional health centers, Howard said. DHMC opened discussions with key providers in New Hampshire and eastern Vermont to identify and address the specific health needs in those regions, Howard said.
Most recently, the potential partnerships received public attention when Thomas Dee, CEO of SVMC, told the Bennington Banner last month that the hospital was considering cooperative agreements with various organizations, including DHMC, as part of SVMC's five-year strategic plan.
The trend toward forming partnerships with other medical providers is the result of a 2007 revision of DHMC's mission, according to Howard. At that time, hospital administrators began to "reflect on our future and begin laying the foundation for a strategic plan as a large organization."
Some of DHMC's dialogues with other providers are more informal such as the recent meeting with SVMC while others resulted in formalized relationships, Howard said.
The recent partnership formed earlier this year between CMC and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, which formalized a prior relationship, was inevitable because of "government rules and regulations," Jodi Stewart, DHMC director of community relations and marketing, said.
"This collaborative relationship started about six years ago and could only go so far before we needed an official structure in place," she said.
DHMC's Norris Cotton Cancer Center at CMC, which opened in February 2008, provides oncology services supported by additional treatment offered by CMC, Stewart said.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Manchester, an affiliate of DHMC that provides primary and specialty care services in the city, recently signed an affiliation agreement with CMC that will pass through "regulatory review" in a month, Howard said.
D-H Manchester and CMC both share a deep commitment to the local indigent population and have jointly opened up a neighborhood health clinic, according to Stewart.
D-H Manchester also runs the Hospice program at CMC and provides 24-hour care to patients. Midwives and obstetrician-gynecologists from D-H Manchester also deliver babies at CMC's facilities, she said.
"The affiliation is increasing our ability to address the needs in the community," Stewart said. "We are able to do this from a tertiary level."
The agreement between DHMC and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, which was signed about a month ago, is a management services agreement in which DHMC will employ MAHHC's chief executive officer. In exchange, DHMC co-president Nancy Formella will become a voting member of MAHHC's Board of Trustees.
This arrangement will increase communication between the two organizations and allow the CEO of MAHHC to take advantage of educational and leadership development opportunities at DHMC, while still allowing MAHHC to retain autonomy over its own work, Howard said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
SVMC is also considering a partnership with DHMC as part of its strategic planning process, SVMC communications director Kevin Robinson told The Dartmouth. In the 120-day strategic planning process that will take place this summer, SVMC will undergo a "gap-analysis" that will identify any deficiencies in SVMC's current health care system.
"We are a relatively small community hospital, and a partnership with another organization would have many benefits, such as access to financial and intellectual capital," Robinson said. "DHMC is a highly-recognized, academic, tertiary-care hospital, and it definitely came to mind on our list of preliminary hospitals."
As DHMC develops according to its goals and strategic plans, it will maintain and create new relationships with other health care providers in the region where the patient populations overlap with smaller community providers, Howard said.
