NATCHEZ — Merit Health has named a new chief executive officer for all 12 hospitals in Mississippi.

A company spokesperson said the move won’t change much on the ground in Natchez, but will help support the hospital networks’ work around the state.

Merit Health announced this week that Steve Dobbs will lead the networks’ hospitals and 120 physician practices affiliated with it in Mississippi.

“I’m honored to support the work of Merit Health physicians and employees to provide patients across Mississippi with high quality, personalized healthcare,” Dobbs said. “While each area our network serves is unique, we all share the same vision to enhance access to care and coordinate services between our facilities for the benefit of the communities we serve.”

Eric Robinson will remain in his position of chief executive officer at Merit Health Natchez, Merit Health Spokeswoman Robyn Pollack said.

“Steve will just be the supervisor reporting up to corporate and providing operational support as we move toward a statewide hospital structure,” Pollack said. “This is just a way to kind of pull everyone together, and Steve is at the helm of that.”

Dobbs has served as the market CEO for the six hospitals and more than 30 clinics in the Jackson and Vicksburg areas and in leadership roles at hospitals and healthcare organizations in Oklahoma, Florida and Kansas. Before joining Merit Health, Dobbs was CEO of Urologic Specialists of Oklahoma, a 20-member physician practice in Tulsa, Okla.

The then-two Natchez hospitals became affiliated with the Merit Health network — which is affiliated with Community Health Systems (CHS) — in May 2015, along with five other hospitals around the state. Six other hospitals were already in the Merit Health network.

CHS had purchased Natchez Community Hospital and Natchez Regional Medical Center the previous year, and had already begun work to consolidate the two hospitals.

When they were affiliated with the Merit Health network, the hospitals were rebranded as Merit Health Natchez and the Merit Health Natchez — Community Campus.

The Community Campus has since been closed as the hospitals consolidated following a $12 million renovation and optimization project at the main Merit Health Natchez campus.

When the attachment to the Merit Health network was announced in May 2015, the hospital said in a news release that through their affiliation, “hospitals will be able to use the network’s size and shared resources to exchange best clinical practices, operate more efficiently, expand services, and improve access to care.”

Merit Health has approximately 2,300 licensed beds, 2,500 physicians on the combined active medical staffs, 7,000 employees, and more than 53,000 admissions and 300,000 emergency department visits statewide each year.