CLAREMONT, N.H. — Valley Regional Hospital has opened a new outpatient medical center in Claremont, bringing several services that were previously spread across multiple locations into one 25,000-square-foot facility.
The Michael and Sheila Satzow Health Center, located at 224 Elm Street across from the hospital’s emergency department, officially began welcoming patients on September 8. The $19.5 million project is designed to make outpatient care more accessible while giving medical teams more space to work together.
The new center brings primary care, orthopedics, imaging, obstetrics and gynecology, midwifery, phlebotomy, podiatry, and cardiology and vascular services into the same building. Behavioral and community health services are also based at the new location.
Before the new health center opened, Valley Regional’s outpatient services were divided among several locations in Claremont. Hospital officials said bringing those operations together should make it easier for patients to receive multiple services during the same visit. For example, some patients can have laboratory work completed at the facility after seeing their clinician instead of traveling to another location.
The building also provides larger examination rooms, wider hallways and more modern work areas. Its design includes shared spaces intended to make communication between physicians, specialists and other members of care teams easier.
Hospital officials said the consolidation is expected to increase the facility’s capacity. The new center can accommodate as many as 260 patients a day, compared with roughly 175 patients who previously visited the separate outpatient clinics each day.
A project years in the making
Planning for the medical office building began several years ago, with the design process starting in 2022 and construction continuing for about 18 months.
The construction site presented an unusual challenge. Crews had to blast through approximately 10 feet of rock beneath the property, a process that took more than two months and cost about $2 million before the main construction work could move forward. Despite that added expense, the project is expected to finish below its original $22.5 million authorization, with the final cost projected at about $19.5 million.
Funding came from several sources, including capital designated by the Valley Regional Health Board, a bond from Dartmouth Health and contributions from donors.
Among those donors were Michael and Sheila Satzow, longtime Claremont residents who gave $1 million to the project in October 2025. Their contribution was the largest single gift in Valley Regional Hospital’s history and led to the facility being named in their honor.
Michael Satzow has been involved in Claremont civic and nonprofit activities for years. He was a third-generation leader of North Country Smokehouse before the company was sold in 2015 while continuing to operate locally. He has also served on the board and executive committee of Valley Regional Healthcare.
New location brings services together
The opening represents a significant change for patients who previously had to visit different buildings for different types of outpatient care.
The new center gives Valley Regional a single location for a broader range of services while also providing room for primary care and specialty teams to work in closer proximity. Hospital officials have said the arrangement can make communication between specialists easier and, in some situations, allow a patient to be connected with another provider without leaving the building.
The move also does not involve staff layoffs, according to Dartmouth Health.
Patients were notified about appointment-location changes through the health system’s online patient portal and text messages as services moved to the new facility.
The Michael and Sheila Satzow Health Center is now operating at 224 Elm Street in Claremont, with primary care and other outpatient services available at the new location.
For Valley Regional Hospital, the new center marks the completion of a project intended to replace aging, separated outpatient spaces with a more centralized facility for patients and medical staff across the Claremont region.
