Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center announced Monday that they have completed their integration under a new parent company called the Upper Allegheny Health System.

Officials have said the alignment, which was approved and took effect Thursday, will result in greater efficiency and purchasing power, more business stability, enhanced ability to recruit physicians and the opportunity to broaden medical services.

“The integration of our two hospitals will position us to provide even greater care and service to the 150,000 area residents who depend upon our two hospitals for health care services,“ Timothy J. Finan, president and chief executive officer of Upper Allegheny Health System, said in a prepared statement.

Before the hospitals’ integration and formation of the parent company, Finan had been president and chief executive officer of Olean General.

The integration was structured to preserve the hospitals’ separate corporate identities. Each will retain a separate board of directors to oversee licensing requirements and to provide quality oversight, physician credentialing, strategic planning and budget recommendations.

But the newly created umbrella organization will pursue the goal of operating as nearly as possible as a single entity.

The Upper Allegheny Health System will have annual revenues of $160 million and more than 1,500 employees. It will have a total of 305 beds—119 in Bradford and 186 in Olean.