BETHLEHEM, Pa. — This month, Lehigh Valley Health Network and Jefferson Health merged to become a regional provider spanning the Lehigh Valley down to Philadelphia and into parts of New Jersey.
It was not Jefferson’s first merger, but was among its largest. The combined health care company now oversees 32 hospitals and more than 700 outpatient care sites.
Now, the company that helped facilitate that partnership is pulling back the curtain on how the deal played out behind the scenes.
“Health care is a very heavily regulated industry. It's also an industry that affects literally everybody's life, and so it is one that attracts a lot of interest and scrutiny from media, from government, from other people who are in adjacent businesses."Bob Cooper, lawyer, King and Spalding
“When you have a transaction of that level, and particularly one like this that is transformational, you really want to assemble the right team of advisors from the outset," Bob Cooper, a lawyer for international law firm King and Spalding, said.
"Consultants, lawyers, other industry experts who can really help you kind of think through issues, look around corners and make sure everything is being done in the right way and also in an efficient way,”
Cooper is outside counsel to Lehigh Valley Health Network and helped navigate a variety of strategic and legal issues associated with getting the transaction across the finish line.
“Health care is a very heavily regulated industry," he said. "It's also an industry that affects literally everybody's life.
"And so it is one that attracts a lot of interest and scrutiny from media, from government, from other people who are in adjacent businesses."
'Exceptionally smoothly'
The latest partnership comes just a few years after Jefferson ran into a snag while trying to acquire Einstein Healthcare Network.
The Federal Trade Commission filed suit in against Jefferson in federal court, citing the healthcare company’s increase in market share.
The FTC eventually dropped the lawsuit and the deal went through three years ago, but there was speculation that another merger would mean more legal trouble for Jefferson.
"From a patient standpoint, this transaction is one that is going to improve access, improve the ability to get health care services close to where people live and work, and introduce new competition into the Lehigh Valley area for health insurance."Bob Cooper, a lawyer for international law firm King and Spalding
Cooper said that was not the case this time.
"I would say this one ran exceptionally smoothly,” he said. “Part of that is the relationship that people like me and my colleagues have with our counterparts on the Jefferson side.
"A bigger part of it is the leadership from Lehigh Valley Health Network and Jefferson and their abilities and interest in working together and collaboratively toward a common goal."
The integrated LVHN/Jefferson health system is in the Top 15 largest nonprofit health systems in the United States.
Copper said the larger scale system will help to provide those they serve with more options closer to where they already are.
"From a patient standpoint, this transaction is one that is going to improve access, improve the ability to get health care services close to where people live and work, and introduce new competition into the Lehigh Valley area for health insurance."
With the merger, Jefferson’s health insurance plan will be implemented throughout the new network.
The sale comes after the two providers announced the intent to merge in January and signed a definitive agreement in May.
Jefferson and LVHN combined employ around 65,000 people.
