How LVHN, Coordinated Health grew before merger

Lehigh Valley Health Network’s planned acquisition of Coordinated Health, announced Thursday, would continue decades of growth for a longtime player in the region and end a more recent competitor.

Coordinated Health, which employs about 1,400 people and has 16 locations in the Lehigh Valley and beyond, carved out a niche market in orthopedics as it competed with the much larger LVHN and St. Luke’s University Health Network, which employ more than 18,000 and 15,000 people, respectively.

“This proposed union further affirms our commitment to providing world-class orthopedic and specialty care to our patients and community,” Brian Nester, president and CEO of LVHN, said in a statement. “LVHN and Coordinated Health share a common vision focused on population health, one that is rooted in being a partner and advocate in our patients’ health journeys.”

Here is a brief timeline of LVHN and Coordinated Health, culled from the systems’ websites and Morning Call archives:

Lehigh Valley Health Network

1899: Lehigh Valley Health Network traces its start to 13 women who raise $5,300 for land at 17th and Chew streets in Allentown, where they open The

Allentown Hospital.

Late 1950s: With the area’s population booming, a group of Lutheran clergy buys a 102-acre alfalfa field in Bethlehem and builds Muhlenberg Hospital Center. It opens in 1961 as a 192-bed facility for the chronically ill.

The 1960s: Leonard Pool, founder of Air Products, leads the drive for what becomes LVHN. When Pool’s wife, Dorothy, has to travel back and forth from the Lehigh Valley to New York City to receive leading-edge cancer treatment, Pool realizes many residents do not have the means to get such care. He works to create a “superior, regional hospital” so people could receive the best possible care here. His $5 million donation helps bring that vision to life.

1967: Construction begins on what was then Allentown and Sacred Heart Hospital Center in Salisbury Township, known today as Lehigh Valley HospitalCedar Crest. The $24.7 million center, LVHN’s flagship facility, opens seven years later, on Sept. 16, 1974. Later, LVHN expands by acquiring hospitals in Luzerne and Schuylkill counties.

May 2015: LVHN and Pocono Health System announce they have agreed to merge. The consolidation takes effect Jan. 1, 2017, with Pocono Medical Center now Lehigh Valley HospitalPocono.|

LVHN continues to grow. It has opened smaller medical facilities in recent years in the Easton and Nazareth areas, and plans to open hospitals in Carbon County and off Route 33 in Lower Nazareth Township.

Coordinated Health

1980s: Dr. Emil DiIorio, a New York native who settled in the Valley, begins work with Lehigh University on its sports medicine program.

1987: DiIorio starts Coordinated Health as Sports Medicine Lehigh Valley, which serves Lehigh’s athletic teams, and the Industrial Medicine Clinic, whose clients include employees at Bethlehem Steel, Crayola and UPS. DiIorio’s dream is to deliver “value-based health care.” 2017: Geisinger, a major regional health plan, drops Coordinated Health from its coverage, which means thousands of people lose access to doctors.

December 2018: DiIorio and Coordinated Health agree to pay $12.5 million to settle claims by the Justice Department that the system fraudulently billed Medicare and other health care programs.

March 2019: Coordinated Health acknowledges it has been cutting staff and spending, even as it has expanded its footprint.