Two major regional health care systems have abandoned their plans to merge, saying the application process was cumbersome and a distraction during the state's tough economic times.

Care New England and Lifespan said Friday that they had withdrawn their merger application, which was pending before the state health director and state attorney general.

The hospital chains said in a joint statement that they needed to focus all their attention on the state's financial problems, uncertainty about federal reimbursement and increase in uncompensated care. They said they still believed that the merger would save money and improve care, but that the complicated application process was becoming a distraction.

The merger, which was publicly proposed three years ago, would have combined nearly all of Rhode Island's hospitals.

Attorney General Patrick Lynch said his office and the health department had spent "thousands of hours" reviewing the merger application and expected to received thousands of additional pages in support of the proposal. He said he didn't know why the merger was being abandoned, but said he never believed it was necessary for the two systems to combine.

"One conclusion was inescapable: the merger of Lifespan and Care New England would have changed the landscape of our state's health-care system forever," Lynch said in a statement.

Lifespan, the state's largest private employer, includes Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro Children's Hospital, The Miriam Hospital, Bradley Hospital and Newport Hospital. Care New England includes Women & Infants Hospital, Butler Hospital and Kent Hospital.

Wendy Laprade, a labor room nurse at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, said she was skeptical about the hospitals' stated reason for abandoning the merger.

"I think they've finally realized that those of us who were opposing it weren't going to stop," said Laprade, who fears that merging the health care systems would drive up costs rather than save money.