NATCHEZ — On Friday morning Natchez Regional Medical Center CEO Scott Phillips was meeting with hospital employees and dishing out details on the hospital’s prospective buyer.

But due to confidentiality agreements the buyer’s name has still not been divulged.

Phillips said the buyer currently working to purchase the facility is a large investor-owned group that manages multiple hospitals throughout the country.

And one of the best attributes of that buyer is that they have the cash ready to purchase the facility, Phillips said.

“They’re very well-qualified,” he said.

But that well-qualified buyer won’t be running the facility alone.

The buyer is currently in talks with a regional non-profit that would operate in a partnership with the buyer.

The proposed arrangement would essentially work like this: the buyer would purchase the facility and furnish administrative management like the CEO, the non-profit would be in charge of managing medical matters and bringing new doctors to the area.

Last week was the first face-to-face meeting between the two entities, and Phillips said the meeting went well.

“Both CEOs are excited about the transaction,” Phillips said.

While Phillips said he’s confident the deal will go through, he said he is concerned about the souring national economy having a negative impact on the deal.

However, Phillips said the buyer has spent a great deal of money on the necessary legal work that comes before a sale.

Even though the buyer has the enough funding for the deal, Phillips has concerns.

“No one working in the business today has ever seen this before,” he said of the current economy.

While the national economy continues to hit new lows, the hospital’s finances are doing great, Phillips said.

Phillips said ongoing restructuring efforts have put the hospital in the best financial shape it has been in for more than two years.

But the national economy is still cause for concern.

Adams County Supervisor Darryl Grennell said he’s also worried about the impact the economy will have on the deal.

“Not knowing is frustrating right now,” Grennell said. “And it’s frustrating for everybody. The community, the (hospital) workers and county officials all want this to reach a resoluion.”

Phillips said though there’s still no closing date for the deal, the hospital will be moving forward on its declaration of bankruptcy as a means of restructuring the hospital on Feb. 2.

But Phillips strongly clarified one point about the bankruptcy.

“The hospital is not bankrupt,” he said.

Since the idea to sell the hospital came about, Phillips has always planned to use bankruptcy court to settle the hospital’s debts as the sale process proceeds.

“It makes it a much more attractive package for the buyer,” he said.