Littleton Regional Healthcare has announced plans to pull out of an affiliation agreement with three Coos County medical centers.
The hospitals formally joined together less than four years ago under a non-profit umbrella organization, North Country Healthcare, in an attempt to cut costs and improve accessibility of care for patients.
But Littleton Regional Healthcare has now decided it’s best positioned to meet those goals if it operates independently, said President Robert Nutter in a statement this week.
It’s unclear if the other affiliates -- Androscoggin Valley in Berlin, Weeks Medical Center in Lancaster and Upper Connecticut Valley in Colebrook -- will remain linked. Littleton Regional Healthcare is the largest of the four.