New Hampshire's Executive Council plans to keep its $36.5 million contract with Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to staff the state psychiatric hospital, despite mistrust among councilors following layoffs at the health system, according to the Concord Monitor.
The health system announced plans to lay off between 270 and 460 employees earlier this month, just two days after the council and Dartmouth-Hitchcock agreed on a contract to staff New Hampshire Hospital, according to the report. Councilor Chris Sununu, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, voiced serious concerns of mistrust and called for a rebid contract. The Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, did not call for a rebid, but similarly voiced a breach in trust with the health system, according to the report.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock CEO James Weinstein, DO, told the council at a Wednesday meeting no information regarding the layoffs was hidden from the committee and staffing at the psychiatric hospital would not be affected, according to the report.
Councilor Sununu ultimately did not file a motion to rescind the contract, and the state will continue to move forward with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, according to the report.
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