The merger with Greater Hazleton Health Alliance means Hazleton General Hospital will now be Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton.
View full sizeLehigh Valley Health Network's flagship facility is Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township. Lehigh Valley Health Network has extended its footprint.
The health network today announced its proposed merger with Greater Hazleton Health Alliance has cleared regulatory hurdles with the Federal Trade Commission, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and the Orphans Court of Luzerne County.
The merger will become effective Jan. 1 and will result in one fully integrated health care system, officials said.
Under the agreement, Greater Hazleton Health Alliance will merge into LVHN and LVHN will become the sole corporate member of the 150-bed Hazleton General Hospital. As a result, Hazleton General Hospital will change its name to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton.
The proposed merger was announced in April. Officials said the partnership builds upon the two systems working together over several years in various clinical service areas.
“This is welcome news,” said Dr. Ronald Swinfard, Lehigh Valley Health Network's president and CEO. “We have anxiously awaited hearing from the various regulatory and review agencies since our announcement in the spring.
"We are eager to begin discussing and implementing plans that will allow us to address our affiliation objectives. These objectives include high quality, low cost, sustainable health services that meet the needs of our Hazleton and Lehigh Valley communities.”
Hazleton and Lehigh Valley officials have been jointly developing clinical relationships in heart attack care at Hazleton General, emergency department coverage by LVHN physicians at Hazleton General and various telehealth initiatives, officials said.
Jim Edwards, president and CEO of Greater Hazleton Health Alliance, said Lehigh Valley Health Network has demonstrated its commitment to the Hazleton area.“We’re excited that now we can take this relationship to a new level as part of LVHN and focus on expanding and adding to our services so that people don’t have to leave Hazleton for specialty care,” Edwards said.
Officials previously said the merger wouldn't result in any job reductions. Greater Hazleton Health Alliance employs more than 1,000 people and Lehigh Valley Health Network's workforce exceeds 12,000.
Edwards and Swinfard said the merged organization would conduct a needs assessment to determine how it would meet the health care needs of the community going forward.