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The state Attorney General's office plans to review the proposed merger between Community General Osteopathic Hospital and PinnacleHealth System, less than three years after Harrisburg and Polyclinic hospitals merged to create PinnacleHealth.
Both Community General and PinnacleHealth hope the merger, announced Jan. 19, will be complete by July.
"We have 60 days to decide whether to challenge the merger," Sean Connolly, spokesman for the Attorney General, said. But he would not speculate on the antitrust ramifications.
"It's premature to say whether the Attorney General is concerned that the same organization has all three hospitals in Harrisburg," he said. His office's antitrust section will be examining the union of the two companies to ensure that Central Pennsylvanians continue to have access to health care services, he said.
"The primary question is whether there will still be competition in the marketplace," Connolly added.
At the time of the Harrisburg-Polyclinic merger, the attorney general had required PinnacleHealth to sign an agreement pledging to meet certain obligations.
Last year, Hershey Medical Center, another large area hospital, announced it would...