CLARKSDALE (AP) — A rural hospital in the Mississippi Delta has been sold by one Tennessee company to another. The new owner also owns Merit Health Natchez.

Northwest Mississippi Medical Center, in Clarksdale, has 181 beds.
Community Health Systems, Inc., based in Franklin, Tennessee, said in a news release that one of its subsidiaries completed the sale of the hospital Nov. 1 to Curea (CURE-a) Health, based in Clinton, Tennessee.

Curea is a not-for-profit company that also owns hospitals in Amory and Batesville, Mississippi; and in Russellville, Haleyville and Winfield, Alabama.

Community Health Systems still has nine hospitals in Mississippi, all with Merit Health in the name. Two are in Flowood. In addition to the Natchez location, the others are in Biloxi, Brandon, Canton, Hattiesburg, Jackson and Vicksburg.