NEW CASTLE — Lawrence County’s largest provider of in-patient medical care will follow a request from Pennsylvania’s Office of Attorney General and seek alternatives to a proposed merger with UPMC Health System.

Jameson Health System announced that it has acted on the request by issuing bid documents, called requests for proposals, to more than 20 potential partner health systems based both in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

Hospital spokesman Lisa Lombardo said the recipients have about 30 days to respond with a merger proposal, in what she said was an “expedited process.”

The list of potential merger partners was provided by the Attorney General’s Office, Lombardo said.

Any proposals the hospital receives will be evaluated and scored by the Illinois-based capital advisory firm Ponder & Co., which will make a recommendation to Jameson’s board of directors.

That review will also include UPMC’s $80 million proposal, which was approved by both hospital systems’ boards in February and includes a promise to cover Jameson’s long-term debt, secure its pension liabilities and make a “substantial infusion of funds” into the hospital system.

Jameson’s board will then perform its own review and issue a final decision. Lombardo said she expects that process to take several weeks.

The proposed merger between Jameson and UPMC had been under review by the AG’s office for months before antitrust concerns prompted state officials to ask Jameson to revisit the bidding process.

Lawrence County commissioners say state officials told them in a meeting last month that a Jameson-UPMC merger would hold more than 70 percent of in-patient market share in the county.

Jameson and UPMC say they both remain committed to their proposed merger and believe it is the best option for health care in Lawrence County. A merger agreement between the two hospital systems was originally supposed to expire in four days, but was extended to Dec. 31 by UPMC.

Jameson blamed the earlier-than-expected closure of its maternity care center last week on the protracted state review of its deal with UPMC, saying the holdup had impacted its ability to recruit physicians to staff the center, which had been expected to remain open until next Tuesday.