The merger between St. Luke’s University Health Network and Blue Mountain Health System is complete, officials announced Tuesday morning.

First outlined in September, the deal brings Gnaden Huetten Hospital in Lehighton and Palmerton Hospital, along with Blue Mountain’s various other facilities, under the St. Luke’s umbrella.

Last week, St. Luke’s spokesman Sam Kennedy said the merger was still on track to become official early in 2018 and, on Dec. 31, that moment took place.

Final approval of federal and state regulatory bodies came on Dec. 21.

“The addition of the Gnaden Huetten and Palmerton campuses and other Blue Mountain entities positions our network to continue as the greater Lehigh Valley’s leading provider of the highest quality care at the lowest cost,” said St. Luke’s University Health Network CEO and President Rick Anderson. “Together, we will work closely with our newest partner to expand access to quality health care services for the citizens of Carbon County.”

With the merger completion on Dec. 31 came the retirement of former Blue Mountain President and CEO Andrew Harris.

Terry Purcell will fill the role as president of Blue Mountain’s two hospitals, which have been renamed St. Luke’s Palmerton Campus and St. Luke’s Gnaden Huetten Campus.

“I would like to personally thank Drew for his outstanding leadership and service at Blue Mountain Health System over the years, and also for playing a critical leadership role in the Blue Mountain/St. Luke’s merger,” Anderson said.

Blue Mountain Health System has employed Purcell for more than two decades, and for the past year he has served as the senior vice president of operations. He is a Mahanoy Area High School graduate and earned a bachelor’s degree from Bloomsburg University and an MBA from Wilkes University.

“With his deep ties to the region, we know Terry will serve both St. Luke’s and Carbon and the surrounding counties well,” Anderson said.

The St. Luke’s/Blue Mountain merger was unanimously approved in September by the Boards of Trustees of both organizations.

In a series of meetings with Blue Mountain’s board, Anderson and his colleagues were asked “all the tough questions,” he said.

“It was never contentious,” he added.

St. Luke’s did not pay Blue Mountain as part of the agreement. Instead, the deal included promises by St. Luke’s that it will commit to maintain hospitals in Palmerton and Lehighton as acute-care facilities, offer employment to all Blue Mountain employees in good standing with the system, maintain charity care policies similar to other St. Luke’s hospitals, retain members of the medical staff of Blue Mountain and assume physician employment agreements.

Blue Mountain employs around 1,000 people, officials said in September.

Steven Serfass, chairman of the Blue Mountain Health System’s board of trustees, said in September, “This affiliation agreement was made with the best interests of our community and our employees in mind. We wanted to ensure that the residents of Carbon and neighboring counties would continue to receive the highest quality, most cost-effective health care now and for years to come. St. Luke’s long history of these qualities made it the ideal partner.”

Anderson said Carbon County and surrounding area residents can expect St. Luke’s to replicate the success and positive impact it has achieved at its other hospital campuses and outpatient centers.

“Over the years, St. Luke’s has established an extremely successful record of working collaboratively and forming successful partnerships with hospitals that have joined our network — in western Allentown, Quakertown and Coaldale, Pa., and in Phillipsburg, New Jersey,” he said. “We have extended our nationally recognized quality programs to these locations, providing patients with cost-effective care and superior quality second to none as measured regionally and nationally.”