Implementing hospital affiliation no simple task

There's nothing simple about the proposed affiliation between Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center. If the affiliation makes it through state and federal scrutiny, it would join three hospital campuses, more than two dozen community sites, $500 million in annual revenues and 4,700 employees under the umbrella of an active parent organization to be known as the Mohawk Valley Health System. Blending all that into one health system, while keeping St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic and Faxton St. Luke's secular, is not an exercise for the faint of heart.