Manchester, N.H.-based Catholic Medical Center is planning to end outpatient behavioral health services by the end of March, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported March 6.
The hospital will continue offering urgent mental health services through its emergency department.
Catholic Medical Center was acquired by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare in January 2025. A hospital spokesperson told Becker’s that HCA has committed more than $200 million over the next decade to modernize facilities, enhance technology and expand patient care capacity.
“As part of this process, Catholic Medical Center will no longer offer outpatient behavioral health services, which were primarily provided through telehealth appointments,” the spokesperson said. “We are working directly with impacted patients to ensure continuity of care and to connect them with trusted community partners, such as The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester.”
In December, Catholic Medical Center announced a $50,000 gift to The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester to strengthen perinatal and postpartum mental health programs focused on underserved and low-income families, the spokesperson said.
HCA’s acquisition of Catholic Medical Center through months of review by the New Hampshire Justice Department’s Charitable Trusts Unit and Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau before the transaction was completed, according to the report. The unit noted a “lack of any HCA commitment to behavioral health services” in its final report.
The New Hampshire Justice Department said it “received no advance notice of HCA’s proposed action to close its outpatient behavioral health services.”
“The NH DOJ is reviewing the proposed action and there is a pending inquiry to HCA requesting information about impacted patients,” a spokesperson told Becker’s in a statement.
