New Jersey may soon learn whether having larger hospital systems leads to improved health care — and if history is a guide, the outcome is very much in question.

The proposed merger of Barnabas Health and Robert Wood Johnson Health System announced yesterday would instantly create the state’s largest hospital system — an 11-hospital behemoth that would outrank the Hackensack Meridian Health system proposed only eight months ago.

The newly merged health care system would have more than $4.5 billion in operating revenue, as well as 260,000 inpatient visits, 2 million outpatient visits, nearly 700,000 emergency department visits, and nearly 30,000 employees.

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