Baptist Memorial Health Care is continuing to expand its Mississippi footprint.
The Memphis-headquartered hospital system will soon take over a healthcare facility in Brandon and invest $70 million to enhance its services.
Rankin County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a proposal for Merit Health Rankin, located in the Crossgates area of Brandon, to be transferred to Baptist as the sole leaseholder and operator sometime in the latter half of this year.
Merit Health Rankin is a 134-bed community-oriented hospital, and is currently operated by Brandon HMA, LLC, an affiliate of Community Health Systems. The hospital currently offers a broad range of diagnostic, emergency, inpatient and geriatric behavioral health services, including an 18-bed senior care program.
Along with its investment to boost operations at the hospital, Baptist has committed to keeping the more than 175 active Merit Health Rankin employees considered to be “in good standing” on payroll.
“Our team at Baptist Memorial Health Care couldn’t be happier to have the trust and support of the Rankin County Board of Supervisors to care for the health of this community,” Jason Little, President and CEO, Baptist Memorial Health Care, said. “It is a responsibility we take very seriously, and it is why we are very thoughtful about entering new communities as health care partners.”
Baptist Memorial boasts itself as the largest health care network in Mississippi, with 14 hospitals in the state. Since 2016, Baptist Memorial has added nine hospitals in Mississippi through merger, acquisition or organic growth. Notably, the system took over the Oktibbeha County Regional Hospital in Starkville last year and Anderson Regional Health System in Meridian in 2024.