Danbury-based Western Connecticut Health Network and New York-based Health Quest announced Wednesday they have merged to create a $2.4 billion system called Nuvance Health.
The announcement came the same day regulators approved a certificate of need application to transfer ownership of both health systems into a single, newly formed not-for-profit entity.
The name Nuvance was derived from a combination of "new" and "advance," officials said. The combined system will care for patients across New York's Hudson Valley and western Connecticut, officials said.
The merger comes a little more than a year after the two systems formally agreed to create a new system.
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Local, community-based leadership and separate boards of directors will continue to oversee each hospital.
"Through the new integrated health system, we will be able to attract top clinical talent in order to provide even more advanced, compassionate and collaborative care," Murphy said in a statement.
The new health system will serve 1.5 million residents. It includes seven hospitals, more than 2,600 physicians and 12,000 employees. Projected annual revenues of the system are $2.4 billion, officials said.
The benefit of the larger consolidated system will be a greater breadth of services, such as more specialty physicians and population health programs, as well as the use of data analytics to enhance quality and safety and improve health outcomes, officials said.
"By coming together, we will bring our communities more healthcare options through new programs and services, especially to help prevent disease and effectively manage chronic conditions. Our communities will also benefit from having greater access to specialists and the latest treatments, conveniently within one health system and close to home," Friedberg said in a statement.