After struggling financially for years, Mercy Jeannette Hospital has finalized its sale to Excela Health, in an effort to stem losses while continuing to provide local hospital care and hundreds of jobs to the Jeannette area.

The hospital, founded in 1959 by the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg, lost $6.5 million from its operations last year.

In the sale, finalized last Thursday, the hospital was renamed Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital at Jeannette.

While some services, such as obstetrics, are moving to other Excela facilities, the hospital will continue providing emergency care; inpatient care, including medical, surgical and critical care service; and advanced diagnostics.

Excela plans to keep the hospital's 500 workers and provide training to help them get used to the new system, according to hospital officials.

"This transaction represents the best solution for our patients, employees and community because it directly addresses the challenges we could not overcome as a stand-alone hospital in the region," Julie Hester, president and chief executive officer of Mercy Jeannette, said in a prepared statement.

"In Excela Health, we found an experienced partner with a proven track record of preserving access to health-care services throughout the region."

The Jeannette campus, an extension of Westmoreland Hospital, will join Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant, Latrobe Hospital and Westmoreland Hospital (Greensburg) under the Excela name.

Excela was chosen as Mercy Jeannette's successor in November by Catholic Health East, Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill -- who still sponsor the hospital -- and Mercy Jeannette officials, in part because it had pledged to honor the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.

The ethical and religious directives provide guidance in following Catholic spirituality and doctrine in providing health care. It includes respecting the sacredness of human life from birth to natural death, honoring a patient's right to adequate health care, following the Biblical mandate to care for the poor, and embracing the psychological, social and spiritual health -- as well as the physical health -- of a patient.

Excela's pledge also helped it win the Vatican's approval of the sale Feb. 28, along with approvals from state Attorney General Tom Corbett and the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Court Division.

All three approvals were necessary for the sale to proceed.

In addition to obstetrics, adult inpatient rehabilitation, behavioral health and skilled nursing are being relocated to other Excela Health hospitals. Patients began going to the new locations for those services on April 28.

"As Excela Health fulfills its strategic vision to grow to meet the needs of the community, we are proud of our combined hospitals' strengths," David S. Gallatin, chief executive officer of Excela Health, said in a prepared statement.

"Together, we are stronger than we were apart."