NATCHEZ — Natchez Community Hospital administrators said Wednesday the pending purchase of the hospital’s parent company should not disrupt services locally.

Community Health Systems Inc. announced Tuesday its intentions to acquire Health Management Associates Inc. — the company that owns Natchez Community — for $3.9 billion. The deal still faces approval from federal regulators and HMA investors, but if it goes through Natchez Community will be part of a chain of 206 hospitals in 29 states.

Natchez Community Chief Executive Officer Eric Robinson said Wednesday the amount of attention paid to the proposed merger locally is understandable, but it is not expected that the hospital’s operations will be affected in any way in the foreseeable future.

“If anything, should the combination of our parent company with CHS occur, it will be very beneficial to all the hospitals involved — including Natchez Community Hospital — and the Miss-Lou,” Robinson said. “Together, I believe we will be part of an even stronger company which certainly benefits our community, our physicians, our associates and, most importantly, our patients.”

Community Health’s desire to purchase HMA’s 71 facilities is because those facilities are excellent hospitals, Robinson said.

“We look forward to the combination and the opportunities it will present for all involved,” he said.

The announcement that Natchez Community could soon have new ownership comes on the heels of the decision by the Natchez Regional Medical Center’s board of trustees and the Adams County Board of Supervisors to seek to sell the county-owned NRMC.

The decision followed a recommendation by the Horne Group, an accounting firm hired to assess if the hospital should be sold or leased. Healthcare Management Partners CEO Scott Phillips — who was hired to help solicit bids for the NRMC sale — said the recommendation was based on a study of long-term trends of patient outmigration from the area and a need for NRMC to be a part of a larger health care system to attract specialists.

Phillips has previously said the ideal for the area would be to have both local hospitals replaced with a single hospital system.

NRMC board of trustees chair the Rev. Leroy White said he did not foresee the acquisition of the competing hospital having an affect on the potential sale of NRMC.

White did say, however, that a bid for NRMC had been solicited from HMA and that NRMC and its consultants would assess the situation and decide if a bid should be solicited from Community Health.

“HMA is still the company we are dealing with,” White said.

“We have been following Natchez Community Hospital all the way along.”

A public hearing in which area residents can tell hospital and county officials how they feel about the proposed NRMC sale is scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 14.