$1 Billion Nonprofit Could Emerge From Elwyn-Merakey Merger Talks

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The administration building on the Elwyn campus in Media
Image via Charles Fox, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The administration building on the Elwyn campus in Media

A proposed merger of Elwyn in Media and Merakey in Lafayette Hill would create a nonprofit with $1 billion in annual revenue providing services to people with intellectual disabilities, writes Harold Brubaker for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The two organizations are exploring a merger. The new nonprofit would operate in 16 states, and employ 12,000 people.

An Elwyn-Merakey merger would serve 55,000 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and would provide behavioral health and special education services.

The merger is happening at a time when physical health care is integrating with behavioral and intellectual disability services, according to Merakey CEO Josh S. Martz.

“The larger entity creates additional resources to make those kinds of investments possible,” he said.

Elwyn and Merakey are both struggling to attract and retain staff.

There’s currently a job vacancy rate of 25 percent and an employee turnover rate of 37 percent for human service providers like Elwyn and Merakey, said Mark Davis, head of a Pennsylvania trade group for human service organizations.

Elwyn CEO Charles S. McLister said combining with Merakey would create an “opportunity to build an organization that will innovate and materially change the way our industry operates.”

Read more about a possible Elwyn-Merakey merger in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Changing the label of “intellectual disability.”

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