The Charitable Trusts Unit within the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office retained Katharine London and Jeremy Tourish of UMass Medical School’s Health Law & Policy team to assess the current provision of community benefits by Elliot Health System (EHS) and Southern New Hampshire Health System, Inc. (SNH) and the potential effects on cost, quality and access that could arise from these entities’ proposed transaction to join together into a regional health system.
EHS and SNH proposed to join together to create a new entity, SolutionHealth (SH) to serve as the sole member and supporting organization of EHS and SNH, thereby creating a regional health care system.
The Charitable Trusts Unit is charged with reviewing the proposed transaction to determine whether it meets a number of criteria, including “determining that the transaction is in the best interest of the health care charitable trust and the community which it serves” and “The assets of the health care charitable trust and any proceeds to be received on account of the transaction shall continue to be devoted to charitable purposes consistent with the charitable objects of the health care charitable trust and the needs of the community which it serves.”