NATCHEZ — National Regional Medical Center kicked off its 50-year anniversary with the announcement that it should be out of bankruptcy by the end of the year.

Lana Morgan, senior vice president and chief of operations officer for Natchez Regional, said with the current efforts being made by the hospital staff and its management, the hospital would “land in the black for the first time in years.”

Natchez Regional Medical Center Administrator Bruce Buchanan said if all goes well, the bankruptcy will not follow the hospital into 2010.

“We expect within the next two months we’ll have the bankruptcy completed,” Buchanan said.

The hospital, having had financial trouble since the early 2000s, filed for bankruptcy in February 2009 in order to build cash reserves and use the benefits associated with a chapter 9 bankruptcy to become more fiscally stable.

Buchanan said he’s only been working with the hospital for six months, but his company, Healthcare Management Partners, LLC, was sent in to help clean up the hospital’s financial situation approximately a year and a half ago.

“A lot of hard work was done a year ago,” Buchanan said. “For the last six months we’ve been fine tuning what was done.”

Along with building off of the changes made in the hospital’s managerial methods, Buchanan said he and the staff are focusing on improving the services offered by the hospital.

Buchanan said the hospital is currently waiting for a judge’s order to approve the plan of reorganization and he expects the hospital to get a response by sometime next week.

Buchanan said after the judge’s ruling, the hospital would wait for the 30-day period where its creditors will be able to comment on the process and give their feedback.

Board of Trustees Chairman Dan Bland said the financial standing of the hospital for the upcoming year looked brighter than those in recent memory.

“We should make money this coming year, but it couldn’t be done without the people who work at this hospital,” Bland said. “This is still the hospital you want to come to.”