Keene, N.H.-based Cheshire Medical Center plans to close its primary care clinic in Winchester, N.H., on Nov. 6 after the clinic’s only provider said she was leaving, The Keene Sentinel reported Oct. 15.
The clinic serves 1,400 patients, who will be directed to care at Cheshire Medical’s two locations in Keene. Joseph Perras, MD, CEO and president of Cheshire Medical, told the Sentinel the clinic has been hard to staff since its longtime physician retired in 2018. Its sole provider, a nurse practitioner, is leaving in November, and recruiting an experienced clinician who could work without supervision wasn’t feasible at the rural location, Dr. Perras said. The clinic’s six other employees have been offered positions elsewhere in Dartmouth Health, which Cheshire Medical is affiliated with.
The closure follows Cheshire Medical’s announcement last month that it will close its 20-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit at the end of October and eliminate 12 positions, a move Dr. Perras attributed to finances. Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center also cut 124 positions and 303 vacant positions last month to reduce operating expenses.
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