George Epstein, a former Conway, N.H.-based Memorial Hospital trustee, resigned in protest over the hospital's proposed partnership with MaineHealth in Portland, according to a Conway Daily Sun report.
Memorial Hospital's board of trustees voted to pursue the deal with MaineHealth in October. The deal has been in development for more than a year, and a final agreement is not expected until more due diligence and regulatory oversight is complete.
Following his resignation, Mr. Epstein wrote a column for the Conway Daily Sun in which he shares his belief that the partnership was accepted too quickly, without consideration of alternatives or proper due diligence. According to him, the hospital did not hold any conversations with other healthcare providers in the area, such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., or Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H.
According to the report, Mr. Epstein's criticism of the process and the deal comes less than a week before Memorial Hospital executives plan to present the proposal to the community. Memorial Hospital CEO Scott McKinnon and board of trustees chair Gene Bergoffen disagree with Mr. Epstein's due diligence argument. "We've documented all of our efforts," said Mr. Bergoffen, according to the report. "I respect [Mr. Epstein's] argument," but "we did a very rigorous thought process."
Memorial Hospital's board of trustees voted to pursue the deal with MaineHealth in October. The deal has been in development for more than a year, and a final agreement is not expected until more due diligence and regulatory oversight is complete.
Following his resignation, Mr. Epstein wrote a column for the Conway Daily Sun in which he shares his belief that the partnership was accepted too quickly, without consideration of alternatives or proper due diligence. According to him, the hospital did not hold any conversations with other healthcare providers in the area, such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., or Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H.
According to the report, Mr. Epstein's criticism of the process and the deal comes less than a week before Memorial Hospital executives plan to present the proposal to the community. Memorial Hospital CEO Scott McKinnon and board of trustees chair Gene Bergoffen disagree with Mr. Epstein's due diligence argument. "We've documented all of our efforts," said Mr. Bergoffen, according to the report. "I respect [Mr. Epstein's] argument," but "we did a very rigorous thought process."