NEW CASTLE — The earlier-than-expected closing of a maternity care center in Lawrence County is the result of delays hampering the merger of Jameson Health System and UPMC, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

“It’s not a cost-saving initiative at all. It’s a physician manpower issue,” said spokesman Lisa Lombardo. “We feel that our recruitment efforts have been inhibited due to the delay” of the merger.

The center, which Jameson said on Tuesday will stop accepting patient admissions today at 11:59 p.m., had been expected to remain open until Sept. 1.

For the fiscal year that ended June 30, the center had overseen 295 births and was staffed by two doctors, down from 495 births and five doctors in the 12 months that ended June 30, 2013.

The closure will not affect the hospital’s gynecological services, Lombardo said.

The $80 million merger of the two hospital systems, which was announced last September and approved by board members in February, has been mired in a state review for months.

That review is being conducted by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, and has prompted state legislators and Lawrence County officials to travel to Harrisburg seeking information on the hold up.

The process hit another hurdle recently when AG officials, amid antitrust concerns, asked Jameson to seek other business partners.

It was unclear exactly when that request was made, and AG spokesman Jeffery Johnson declined to discuss specifics of the office’s review of the merger proposal or the timing of the request for Jameson to rebid.

Lawrence County commissioners, in a meeting last week with state attorneys, were told that the office flagged the merger proposal over concerns about market share.

“Their fear was that (the merger) would ultimately lead to extensive increases in the cost of ... health care,” said Lawrence County Commissioner Dan Vogler.

Vogler said state officials provided commissioners with information compiled by the Healthcare Cost Containment Council, which is a state agency, detailing Jameson and UPMC as the two largest shareholders of in-patient treatment services in Lawrence County.

If they merged, the resulting system would hold more than 70 percent of in-patent market share, according to the information Vogler received from the AG’s office. The next-largest shareholder would be Ellwood City Hospital, at 7 percent, Vogler said.

The commissioners’ main concern in the matter is Jameson’s viability, Vogler said.

“It is a very important economic engine in this county,” he said. “Any negative impact on Jameson is going to create a significant ripple effect economically throughout the entire county, and that is very concerning to us.”

Both hospital systems said Tuesday that they remain committed to the proposed merger.

UPMC spokesman Susan Manko said the hospital had extended the term of a merger agreement between the two systems from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31.

“We believe the merger agreement ... is the best option to preserve the future of Jameson and quality health care for this region,” Manko said.

Lombardo said the merger agreement initially precluded Jameson from seeking alternative bids, but that UPMC had “agreed to support Jameson’s efforts to comply with the Attorney General’s expectations.

Lombardo said any rebid process by Jameson would have to be approved by the hospital system’s board of directors, which hasn’t yet formally taken up the AG’s request.

In a statement Jameson said that it was evaluating “our future possible next steps ... in great detail,” and recommendations on the request from the AG’s office hadn’t yet been made to board members.