CMC, HCA edge closer to partnership

Apr. 30—After a months-long review, Catholic Medical Center and HCA Healthcare are "close" to partnering in some form.

An announcement is expected this month, according to a source close to CMC.

"They're close enough to the finish line" to talk about next steps, the source said Tuesday.

In September, the nonprofit Manchester hospital and the for-profit HCA announced they had signed a non-binding letter of intent to explore a partnership.

It was unclear whether one entity would acquire the other or operate under a looser affiliation-type structure.

In an email Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said the potential deal could be one "where CMC would join HCA Healthcare."

"Negotiations are ongoing and we can't answer what the final structure will be until those negotiations are complete," Laura Montenegro, director of communications & public relations at CMC, said in a follow-up email.

"The ongoing discussions regarding a potential agreement, where CMC would join HCA Healthcare, have progressed steadily since last fall, with both parties actively engaged in the thorough due diligence process necessary for reaching a formal agreement," Montenegro said.

"We continue to be excited about this proposed partnership that would enable CMC to continue providing high-quality Catholic healthcare to our patients while enhancing our financial viability and investing in future growth," she said. "We look forward to sharing more details with our community as we know more."

HCA Healthcare didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The next step would be for CMC's board of trustees to hold a public information session.

A deal would marry one of the state's largest health care systems with a Tennessee-based health care network that owns around 185 hospitals and 123 surgery centers in 21 states and the United Kingdom.

In New Hampshire, HCA owns Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Parkland Medical Center in Derry, Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester and freestanding emergency rooms in Seabrook, Dover and Plaistow.

The two entities intend to maintain CMC's Catholic identity and provide care in accordance with the ethical and religious directives for Catholic health care services.

Approvals are needed by the charitable trusts unit in the New Hampshire Department of Justice, as well as by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

In 2022, state regulators shut down a proposal to combine Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and CMC parent company GraniteOne Health over concerns it would hurt competition and could result in higher prices for care.

The two providers had claimed the proposed union would not be a merger but rather a combination of financial, administrative and clinical systems.

In a September 2022 report on the proposal, the charitable trusts unit said it believed the combination deal would mean less competition in health care in New Hampshire and therefore deemed the deal unlawful.

An attempted merger between CMC and Dartmouth-Hitchcock fizzled in 2010, when state regulators objected and the Federal Trade Commission raised antitrust concerns.

In the late 1990s, CMC and Elliot Hospital formed Optima Health Care, but that unraveled and changed the regulatory environment for hospital mergers or affiliations moving forward. Disentangling the two organizations proved to be so costly and complicated that the antitrust division in the Attorney General's Office had to assist in the process.