Barnabas Health and Robert Wood Johnson Health System have agreed to merge to create New Jersey’s largest healthcare system and one of the largest in the nation.

The new organization, RWJ Barnabas Health, is expected to be completed in 2016. RWJ Barnabas Health will annually represent operating revenues of more than $4.5 billion, 260,000 inpatient admissions, 2 million outpatient visits, nearly 700,000 emergency department visits, 23,000 births, nearly 30,000 employees, 9,000 physicians and 1,000 residents and interns. The new system will be comprised of 11 acute care hospitals, three children’s hospitals, a pediatric rehabilitation hospital, a behavioral health center, ambulatory care centers and five fitness and wellness centers.

“The new health system will comprise effectively every clinical service from primary to quaternary and greatly strengthen our commitment to medical education and research,” said Barry H. Ostrowsky, president and CEO of Barnabas Health. "The merger also will provide a large enough geography to be appropriate for the migration to population health management.”

“We are excited to move forward with this historic merger agreement which will offer the diverse communities in New Jersey expanded access to the best in academic medicine and community-based care,” said Stephen K. Jones, president and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson Health System.