Dartmouth contract with New Hampshire Hospital set to expire: 5 things to know

A contract under which Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., employs and supplies psychiatrists to the state's main hospital for the mentally ill is in flux, according to a Valley News report.

Here are five things to know about the issue.

1. The contract under which Dartmouth College employs and supplies psychiatrists to Concord-based New Hampshire Hospital is set to expire June 30.

2. Dartmouth has agreed to extend the current contract for four months. However, there are concerns about the welfare of the more than 150 patients who now live and receive care at New Hampshire Hospital, according to the report.

3. The situation comes amid restructuring by Dartmouth College that began in 2015 to reduce growing deficits at its Geisel School of Medicine. The restructuring plan includes moving hundreds of Geisel employees —182 physicians, researchers and staff in the psychiatry department and 103 faculty and staff involved in clinical research —from the college's payroll to Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock, which has ties to Dartmouth College but a separate corporate and financial existence.

4. Part of the transfer was the five-year, $38 million contract under which Geisel employs the psychiatrists, who have faculty appointments, and some other professionals who work at NHH, according to the report. But the state has not yet awarded a new contract to D-H. And, the report notes, it appears D-H may not yet have signed up the psychiatrists or other professionals it would need to deliver the contracted services.

5. Last week, HHS submitted a proposal to New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) and the state's executive council for a four-month, $2.9 million extension of Dartmouth College's current contract, which would be assigned to D-H, Valley News reports. The request cited "unanticipated contracting issues that arose well into the procurement process" but did not describe the issues or name D-H, the report notes. The extension is slated for the executive council's Wednesday meeting.

 

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