http://www.mcall.com/business/healthcare/mc-lvhn-pocono-merger-20161215-story.html

A year ago, Lehigh Valley Health Network and Pocono Health System announced that their boards had authorized a merger.

The two institutions had disclosed a letter of intent to merge six months earlier.

A year and a half later, however, LVHN and PHS remain independent, their long-planned marriage apparently held up by a slow-moving regulatory approval process.

In the meantime, LVHN has announced and completed a different merger — with Schuylkill Health System. And PHS has announced it is laying off 61 nurses of 530 nurses at Pocono Medical Center.