Butler Health System and Clarion Health System announced a merger Wednesday.

According to a news release issued late Wednesday afternoon by both organizations, the agreement will integrate the Clarion network and its affiliates into BHS.

The two systems will proceed through a period of due diligence, which is expected to take several months.

Clarion Healthcare System is made up of four affiliates, all located in Clarion and including Clarion Hospital, a 70-bed facility providing 24-hour emergency services, among other features.

“The Clarion Healthcare System Board, with all of us being from the local community, care deeply about the availability of high quality health care close to home for the people of Clarion County and the surrounding communities and were intent on finding the best path to sustain those services long into the future,” Fred Port, CHS board chairman, said of the merger.

The release said the CHS board spent many months exploring potential partnerships.

Former interim CEO Steven Davis was named to the spot on a permanent basis Jan. 1. But plans for the future must wait until the agreement is finalized.

Port said CHS takes a step forward toward better patient care with this move.

“We are pleased and excited about this opportunity to partner with Butler Health System to create enhanced services, to increase specialty care and to provide a larger scope of care for our community,” he said. “Butler Health System has consistently demonstrated a similar vision and culture to ours in preserving locally driven community care.”

Butler Health System is the parent of Butler Memorial Hospital, its affiliates and a number of subsidiaries.

Butler Memorial Hospital is a 326-bed, acute-care facility with a broad range of surgical, medical, emergency and psychiatric services.

“We are very pleased that the leadership of Clarion Healthcare System has decided to partner with us,” said Ken DeFurio, president and CEO of Butler Health System. “We look forward to a very successful future together.”

BHS includes 72 outpatient locations across eight counties in Western Pennsylvania. BHS also employs nearly 2,500 people, and in 2018 was named to a list of “100 Top Hospitals in the United States” by IBM Watson health.

“BHS has worked diligently for many years to prove that affordable, high-quality care can and should be provided locally — under the guidance of local leadership and physicians,” DeFurio said. “We have been most impressed as we have come to know the people leading Clarion Healthcare System, and we know that they hold these values as well.”