The largest health systems in the Dakotas are expected to complete their merger this week.

Fargo's MeritCare and Sioux Falls-based Sanford Health are combining into a system with nearly $2 billion in assets and some 14,000 employees.

Sanford's chief executive, Kelby Krabbenhoft, says the merged system will operate its own fleet of two buses to shuttle staff and physicians between medical campuses in Fargo and Sioux Falls.

He says the buses will be equipped so staff members can work on the road.

The new system is to be called Sanford Health & MeritCare. It will have a coverage area of 130,000 square miles, including parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.

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