North Country Healthcare, the parent company of Weeks Medical Center and two other hospitals in rural Coös County, released a report this week seeking to answer questions from a vocally frustrated group of patients.
The report serves as the hospital system’s recap of a series of listening sessions North Country Healthcare hosted in communities throughout the region. But that report also provided other glimpses into the hospital system, including that it is “always looking for thoughtful opportunities to expand” and that Weeks Medical Center, the system’s Lancaster hospital, was in “a sustained period of financial strain” from 2023 to 2025.
“The time, honesty, and care people brought to these conversations made one thing clear: our communities are deeply invested in the future of local healthcare,” the report read. “We see that as a strength.”
North Country Healthcare has been embroiled in a swirling controversy for much of the past year. A local group calling itself the Concerned Patients Group has been outspoken about the quality of care at Weeks Medical Center and has held public meetings to vent their frustrations. Among their top concerns were a lack of primary care physicians, the health system’s decision to outsource its entire revenue cycle department, and the firing of a well known physician, Dr. Elizabeth Cooley.
The patients caught the attention of lawmakers and officials in Concord, including the Charitable Trusts Unit, an office within the Department of Justice that reviews hospital mergers, which has since launched a formal review. That review is ongoing.
State Sen. David Rochefort, who has served as a liaison between the Concerned Patients Group and the Charitable Trusts Unit, subsequently filed legislation targeting the system. His bill, Senate Bill 664, sought to impose an 18-month freeze on executive compensation at any hospital located in a distressed place-based economy if the hospital eliminates more than 10 employees in a single department within a six-month period. The penalty for violation was to be a $10,000 fine and a clawback of the improperly paid salary. Coös County is the only distressed place-based economy — a designation the Legislature gave it last year — in New Hampshire. North Country Healthcare operates the only hospitals in the county. That bill, however, was tabled before the Senate could vote whether to approve or reject it.
Amid the criticism, North Country Healthcare held a series of listening sessions in Berlin, Lancaster, Jefferson, Bethlehem, and Colebrook. The report outlines a selection of participant questions and North Country Healthcare’s answers.
Among the questions was whether North Country Healthcare is considering adding new hospitals, partnerships, or other growth opportunities. North Country Healthcare responded by saying, “Our focus right now is on strengthening the services we provide across our existing System and continuing to improve access, quality, and the patient experience in the communities we already serve.”
“That said,” the report continued, “as a rural healthcare organization, we are always looking for thoughtful opportunities to expand services or partnerships.”
North Country Healthcare also reiterated “there is no plan for NCH to be purchased by a larger health system.”
In response to questions about whether any of the system’s hospitals will close, North Country Healthcare touted that its interconnection helps individual hospitals weather financial trouble.
“For example, the system was able to support Weeks Medical Center (WMC) through a period of financial strain,” from 2023 to 2025, it wrote. “Because WMC was part of the NCH System, it had the stability and time needed to improve its performance. If WMC had been operating independently, it likely would’ve exhausted its cash reserves and faced the very real risk of closure.”
Participants also asked how many people North Country Healthcare employs — 1,058, according to the report — and how much entry level employees earn, to which North Country Healthcare said its minimum starting wage for entry level roles with no prior experience was $17 per hour, which it boasted was a “socially responsible minimum wage.” Licensed nursing assistants and registered nurses start at approximately $18.21 and $33.38 per hour, respectively, it said.
Rebecca More, the granddaughter of Weeks Medical Center’s founder and a member of the Concerned Patients Group, said the report doesn’t offer enough concrete answers to assuage concerns.
“It seems to me that the report has all these nice things in it,” More said. “But at least to date, there’s no evidence of any change. What there is evidence of is more kind of advertising and what I call ‘window dressing.’”