From Audra Burns, director of media relations, 8/14/26:

Like countless regional and national health systems, Dartmouth Health faces significant financial challenges. The cost of providing care continues to outpace revenue and payer reimbursements.

Earlier this year, we announced that, in order to maintain our commitment to providing the highest quality of care our patients depend on, we would undertake an evaluation of all expenses and spending, leadership structures, staffing models, and services.

Our Connected Care program, established in 2012, provides approximately 20 types of telehealth services to more than 50 organizations across regional and national settings. These programs are designed to provide accessible, efficient and effective care by complementing and enhancing programs and services provided in local communities.

Tele-ICU and Tele-ED are two services whose costs, at our current scale, without external support, are simply unsustainable. We have begun conversations about sunsetting these two services. We recognize the impact and will be working closely with the 13 affected facilities to ensure alternative patient care plans are in place before any final steps are taken. Six of these hospitals are members of our own Dartmouth Health system and this decision presents an opportunity to review and further understand how we can continue to integrate clinically in these areas across Dartmouth Health.

We remain unwavering in our dedication to serving our communities through telehealth platforms and care through our Connected Care program, a remarkable suite of healthcare professionals and services that extends our support to the most remote and underserved areas. External funding for these telehealth programs that often serve rural critical access hospitals, but rarely reach the scale to account for the 24/7 staffing required, is often critically scarce, yet is vital to maintaining these services. We are pleased that Dartmouth Health has just been awarded a $4 million, one-year Rural Health Transformation Program (RHT) grant, allowing us to create a telehealth platform that provides badly needed specialty services to rural patients in underserved communities across the State of Vermont. Importantly, the grant will also fund the technology and staffing needed to support the platform and the care it will provide. These services include rheumatology, nephrology, endocrinology, pulmonary, and infectious disease. We are in the process of submitting other proposals for RHT grants to support similar telehealth initiatives across Vermont and New Hampshire.

As the nation’s most rural academic medical center and health system, we are steadfast in our commitment to deliver exceptional care to the farthest corners of our service region. Our sustainability during challenging financial times will require changes and new approaches to this important care model.