LVHN, Pocono Health merger approved; acting president named

About 18 months after Lehigh Valley Health Network announced its intention to acquire Pocono Health System/Pocono Medical Center, regulators approved the deal, officials announced this morning.

Effective Jan. 1, Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg, headquarters for the health system, will become Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono.

Leadership changes also will take place. PHS President and CEO Jeff Snyder announced his resignation, effective Saturday. Elizabeth Wise, PHS’s chief operating officer and chief nursing officer, will become acting president of Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono on Jan. 1, according to a news statement.

Snyder will continue to provide consultation during a 30-day merger transition period.

LVHN is the region’s largest hospital and health care system, with six hospital campuses in Lehigh, Northampton, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties and more than 13,000 employees.

The merger with PHS will add about 2,000 employees, including about 200 physicians, three comprehensive health care centers in Bartonsville, Tobyhanna and Brodheadsville and 21 primary and specialty care physician practices. Pocono Health System is Monroe County’s second largest employer.

Pocono Health System made cuts to its workforce twice this year. In December, it announced it would cut 2 percent of its workforce, including health care workers.

The merger comes at a time of intense competition and change among the region’s health care systems, especially as the two largest, LVHN and St. Luke’s Health Network, expand and compete for market share.

Until St. Luke’ new $90 million hospital in Bartonsville opened in October, Pocono Medical Center had been Monroe County’s only hospital for more than a century.

LVHN has previously said that if the merger were approved, it would continue with plans to build PHS’s proposed 48-bed acute care hospital in Tannersville.

Wise, who has been chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at PHS for the last two years, has experience in hospital operations, service line development and nursing management.

“Elizabeth advocates for putting the patient first, and that aligns with our values at LVHN,” said LVHN’s executive vice president and chief operating officer Terry Capuano.

“She believes in a relentless pursuit of excellence in everything she and her colleagues do and understands operations, physicians and clinicians must collaborate to create ideal experiences for patients.”

During the last 20 years, Wise has held leadership positions at health care systems throughout the country. Wise has served as chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services at St. Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, N.J., and chief nurse officer and senior vice president at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Additionally, she has served in leadership roles at the Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Del., and at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey.

Wise earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., and also received her master’s degree in nursing and master’s in business administration from Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. Wise is a board member for the American Red Cross of the Pocono Mountains and a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, American Nurses Association, American Organization of Nurse Executives and the American College of Healthcare Executives.