Full Breakdown
Dartmouth Health to End Tele-ICU and Tele-ED Services
8/19/2026, 2:55:00 AM
Core Decision and Scope
Dartmouth Health announced it will discontinue its Tele-ICU and Tele-ED programs, which currently support five Vermont hospitals and a broader network of rural facilities in New Hampshire and Vermont. The services connect intensive-care physicians and emergency-department clinicians at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center with bedside teams at smaller hospitals, aiming to reduce mortality, shorten ICU stays, and limit patient transfers.
Financial Pressures and Program Background
The decision follows a reported $63.5 million operating deficit for Dartmouth Health in May, reflecting expenses that outpaced revenue. Tele-ICU and Tele-ED are two of roughly 20 remote-care offerings under the system’s Connected Care program, launched in 2012. Dartmouth Health’s spokesperson, Audra Burns, said the programs “are simply unsustainable” at their current scale without external funding, noting that 24/7 staffing requirements often exceed the scarce financial support available to rural critical-access hospitals.
Impact on Affected Rural Hospitals
Hospitals relying on the services include Grace Cottage Hospital (Townshend, VT), Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, as well as New Hampshire sites such as Cheshire Medical Center (Keene) and Androscoggin Valley (Berlin). Grace Cottage’s chief medical officer, Dr. Jennifer Zweig, described the impending loss as “a huge letdown and surprising,” emphasizing that the tele-ED partnership has been essential because the hospital could not afford in-house emergency-physician coverage.
Official Statements & Responses
She added that the network will work closely with partner hospitals to identify alternative solutions before finalizing the closures.
Verbatim Quotes
- “It really is a huge letdown and surprising,” — Dr. Jennifer Zweig, Grace Cottage’s chief medical officer
- “It’s not quite as efficient, and it’s not quite as personalized,” — Dr. Jennifer Zweig, Grace Cottage’s chief medical officer
- “It’s essential because I don’t think that we could afford to have that coverage in-house,” — Dr. Jennifer Zweig, Grace Cottage’s chief medical officer
- “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.” — Dartmouth Health, spokesperson
