Mass General discontinues plan to acquire Exeter Hospital

EXETER, N.H. (AP) - Massachusetts General Hospital says it has discontinued its plan to acquire Exeter Hospital after the New Hampshire attorney general’s office opposed the merger because of antitrust concerns.

The merger would have brought Exeter Hospital under the same leadership as Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, which was acquired by Mass General in 2017. Exeter’s vice president of strategic planning, Mark Whitney, tells Seacoastonline.com Mass General “did not feel there was a way forward after the investment of resources, time and energy spent in a regulatory process that has taken two years.”

Whitney said the merger would’ve improved health care on the Seacoast and “improved the sustainability of our organization.”