Wentworth-Douglass Hospital is a not-for-profit community hospital based in Dover, New Hampshire, serving the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and southern Maine. Founded in 1906, the hospital is part of the Mass General Brigham network and provides a broad range of acute, specialty, outpatient, and urgent care services.
How does your clinical background shape the way you lead Wentworth-Douglass today?
Healthcare is becoming much more complex, so having a clinical background helps me lead the team more effectively. Having worked across those areas, I understand the needs of our staff, have a better understanding of the consumer, and can shorten the time between investigation and decision-making because I can relate directly to the work being done. I’ve been part of that work and contributed to it as a caregiver.
I also think it helps the team have confidence in me as a leader because they know I’ve done the job myself and I’m not asking them to do anything I wouldn’t do. In healthcare today, especially as things change so rapidly, it’s important for clinical leaders to be at the forefront of decision-making and guiding teams. At Mass General Brigham and Wentworth-Douglass, we’re focused on being a world-class organization with patients at the center of everything we do.
What have been your main priorities since becoming president of Wentworth-Douglass, and how has being part of Mass General Brigham changed the hospital?
My priorities have been centered on understanding what our community needs are and figuring out how we best meet those needs while keeping patients close to home here in New Hampshire. Being part of Mass General Brigham gives us access to world-class healthcare resources that allow us to elevate the level of care we provide locally. I tell the team every day that our goal is to be just a little bit better than we were the day before, and we’ve seen those results reflected in improvements in our Leapfrog and Vizient scores.
Operationally and clinically, it’s been a huge lift for us. We’ve always had a strong reputation as a hospital serving the community for 120 years, but Mass General Brigham has enabled us to expand access to specialists and bring more complex procedures into the community setting. One example is our AFib ablation program, where we became the first community hospital in the Mass General Brigham to deliver left-sided AFib ablation procedures outside an academic medical center. Our staff trained in Boston, and then the Boston team came to Dover to support implementation, allowing us to bring highly complex care closer to home.
Wentworth-Douglass has recently expanded labor and delivery, imaging, and interventional radiology services. What is driving that investment?
A lot of it comes down to the needs of the community. In labor and delivery, some hospitals in our market have unfortunately closed their programs, but as a non-profit hospital we’re committed to continuing to provide those services. We want people to still be able to say, “I was born in Dover, New Hampshire, at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.” Even when those services are financially challenging, we feel a responsibility to step up and meet the needs of the community.
In other areas, like interventional radiology and advanced imaging, the investments are about keeping patients here rather than sending them to Boston. Our new CT-guided technology allows earlier diagnosis and quicker treatment for cancers, and enables life-saving procedures like clot removal. We’ve also added a mobile MRI at our Lee campus and we’re adding a new CT scanner this fall. We’re even looking at expanding weekend imaging services because demand continues to grow.
How are patient needs and demand changing across the region, and how is the hospital adapting?
New Hampshire is a growing state, and many people are finding it’s a great place to live, work, and raise a family. As the population grows, we have to adapt and expand to meet those needs. At the same time, our patients are generally sicker than they were several years ago, largely because of the aging population and the number of retirees moving into the state.
We’re focused on understanding where the demand is and meeting patients where they are. That’s why we’ve expanded across multiple campuses, including Pease in Portsmouth, Lee, Member’s Way, and Dover. Those locations allow us to provide imaging, oncology, infusion, urgent care, rehabilitation, and other services closer to where people live.
Where are AI and digital technologies making the biggest impact inside the hospital today?
AI is evolving incredibly quickly. Years ago, we used the term “smart technology,” and now everything is more or less AI. One of the biggest wins for us has been AI-assisted note-taking, which helps providers spend more time focused on patient care and less time documenting.
We’re also using AI technologies in our laboratory and radiology operations. We recently implemented BioFire technology that allows us to identify pathogens linked to sepsis within one or two hours, whereas traditional blood cultures could take two to three days. AI is also embedded in much of the newer equipment we’re purchasing, including our interventional radiology technology. Looking ahead, I’m excited to see how AI and robotics continue to evolve in healthcare.
What workforce pressures are hospitals facing most significantly right now?
Workforce pressures changed dramatically after COVID, particularly around nursing recruitment. Fortunately, New Hampshire has strong programs through the University of New Hampshire and the community college system that continue producing talented graduates, and it’s exciting to see young people choosing healthcare careers.
Some areas remain especially difficult, particularly imaging specialties like ultrasound and CT. Recruiting is very competitive, but being part of Mass General Brigham gives us access to a tremendous pipeline of providers trained across the system every year. That gives us a strong advantage in recruiting physicians and specialists and helps us attract people who want to build a career and raise a family here in New Hampshire.
How important is collaboration across hospitals, payers, government, and community organizations today?
I would say collaboration has never been more important. Part of my role is getting out into the community and helping people understand what healthcare really involves. Hospitals operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and maintaining that level of readiness and expertise requires enormous commitment and resources.
We have to continue collaborating with colleges on future workforce needs, with payers on inflation and reimbursement pressures, and with government officials on programs that improve patient outcomes. Everyone may have different priorities, but at the end of the day we all want healthy communities and world-class care. Sometimes the biggest issue is simply taking the time to sit down together and have those conversations.
