By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
EXETER – At the same time that Beth Israel/Lahey Hospital is closing its doors on some care it provides the Seacoast region at Exeter Hospital, it is paying its top eight executives $9 million in salaries, said Executive Councilor Janet Stevens, R-Rye.
Given more than a day to respond to that information, layoffs and termination of health care providers that Stevens handed to the governor, officials at the hospital did not answer InDepthNH.org’s request to confirm or refute her numbers.
At a meeting of the Executive Council on Wednesday in Meredith at Church Landing, Stevens pressed Attorney General John Formella on whether his department is making progress in its review of a court-ordered affiliation agreement to take the reins at the non-profit hospital and whether it is living up to his side of the deal.
Formella said it is complicated and they are working on it, but Gov. Chris Sununu said it is one thing for the “nonprofit” to pay high salaries and another to be removing services that were part of a merger deal with the state.
And he said the problem is larger than just Exeter Hospital itself.
In June of 2023 a final court judgment was reached with the Attorney General’s Office for the $375 million merger.
It included requirements for continuity of care and the retention of services.
Stevens brought to the meeting a most recently filed 990 IRS filing by BILH for Exeter Hospital which shows eight of the highest paid executives earned more than $9 million in base pay for the end of that filing period and $1.3 million in bonuses were paid.
Yet there have been layoffs and terminations at Exeter Hospital for health care providers, beginning in September when 87 jobs were terminated but that may be as high now as 300, she said.
The hospital has declined to release numbers of the terminated but has said areas of neurology, podiatry, pediatric dentistry and Advanced Life Support are affected by the changes which they are temporarily holding off on at the request of the state.
Officials at the hospital were asked following the meeting to respond to the new information about salaries by noon Friday but failed to do so.
“Again, this is incredibly troubling and they are supposed to adhere to the community health needs assessment. They are nonprofit not for-profit,” Stevens said.
She said the hospital should have pride in providing to its communities a paramedic intercept program which she called the “Navy Seals of paramedics” but they announced they are terminating it, impacting the entire region’s emergency medical response.
While the hospital has agreed to suspend for six months some of the closures they announced for budget considerations, there is going to be a medical gap in the region, she asserted noting four areas of practice are set to end on March 25, 2025.
Stevens stressed BILH has access to hundreds of providers within their 14 hospitals, mainly in Massachusetts. They have over 4,500 providers in their network, she said.
Stevens stressed to the governor the impact to the population of her region in lost care is being underestimated by BILH.
She said they claim 60,00 patients will be impacted when it is more like 130,000 with the highest percentage about 50,000 in her district who receive advanced life support services. Cardiac catheterizations are being diverted, she said.
In an email Friday to InDepthNH.org, Stevens said fulfillment of the Community Health Needs Assessment appears to be disregarded or ignored and is part of the merger agreement.
“Has anyone at BILH actually read this document – doubtful,” she said.
Stevens noted the state supported the hospital during the pandemic with close to $2 million in federal relief funds.
She said it was “essential to stabilizing our healthcare system, and now this dismantling,” she said.
Speaking directly to Attorney General Formella, Stevens said, “I just hope we get in there in real time. We cannot depend on this monitor because it took almost a year to get those findings. I’ll hand it off to you.”
Formella said he agreed there are “real problems” and his office will be doing its own review and not relying on “a monitor” or what they are being told about details of the merger contract.
“It’s going to take some time. We have a lot of work to do. The work is underway. We are trying to do everything we can to make sure patients are getting accurate information, and try to maintain patient care. So for example, the pediatric dental service, the good news there is the current staff seem to be making progress standing up their own practice. This is a situation we never wanted to be in the first place but in the short term our primary concern is…continuity of care. So that is what we are working on in the short term,” Formella said.
Sununu asked Formella who is in charge of the hospital?
Formella said Deb Cresta right now is the chief executive officer. Kevin Callahan who served Exeter Health Resources for 37 years, stepped down July 17, 2023, just weeks after the merger.
“We’re talking to her and her senior team?” Sununu asked. Formella replied in the affirmative.
After the meeting Wednesday, while talking with the press, Sununu said the issue is “of concern,” but he noted it is more broad than just the BILH contract and goes out into the entire medical health care system in this state.
“This has been going on for years. You have a nonprofit. I mean a lot of these hospitals claim to be nonprofits and pay their executives millions. It’s not just Exeter Hospital. I think the amount of money I heard today was shocking but when I thought about it I said ‘that’s probably about right’…they are allowed to do it under the rules. But when you are paying someone millions and cutting services that is a whole other discussion of what the heck is going on. And when you are doing that, when you already have an agreement in place with the state to maintain certain services as part of your acquisition process, now we get into a real issue of legality and contract breach and I think the Attorney General is doing a very good job. Counselor Stevens has done a very good job. Our hats off to her for really exposing a lot of this and fighting for her constituents,” he said.
“They signed an agreement that effectively allowed this merger acquisition to take place and there are certain stipulations that have to be met. Clearly a lot of them are not being met so we will make sure we stay on top of it,” and Sununu said the process will be transparent and responsive to “any violations that might be there.”
Echoing Sununu’s concerns Stevens told InDepthNH.org on Friday that she has discussed the 990 filing with the Charitable Trust Unit within the Attorney General’s Office and she is not giving up.
Stevens said she is also waiting on the hospital for answers regarding a $40 million decrease in investments.
“Nonprofit board members have a responsibility to uphold their fiduciary responsibility and protect the interests of the organization. When signing off on executive compensation for Exeter Hospital – did the Board members fulfill their duties?” Stevens asked.
Currently she said there are more questions than answers.
