Community Health Systems Inc., the publicly traded Franklin, Tenn.-based medical facilities operator that owns Rockwood Health System in Spokane, says it will sell four more rural hospitals. 

Since summer of 2015, the hospital system has seen both its earnings and stock price plunge, and it has shed hospitals in an effort to improve operating margins and reduce debt.

According to a press release, subsidiaries of the company have signed a definitive agreement to sell four hospitals and their associated assets to subsidiaries of Curae Health Inc. 

Those four facilities include 95-bed Merit Health Gilmore Memorial, in Amory, Miss.; 112-bed Merit Health Batesville, in Batesville, Miss.; 181-bed Merit Health Northwest Mississippi, in Clarksdale, Miss.; and 126-bed Highlands Regional Medical Center, in Sebring, Fla.  

CHS says the transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year and is subject to regulatory approvals, closing conditions, and financing contingency. The company has said that it would use the proceeds from the sale to reduce debt. 

Wayne T. Smith, chairman and CEO of CHS, says in a press release that the company is invested in the success of its affiliated hospitals and is considering how best to position them for the future. 

 “These four hospitals provide quality care and are important in each of their communities. They will benefit from alignment with a smaller organization specializing in the operation of rural hospitals,” he says. “Divestiture of these assets advances our strategy to focus on a portfolio of larger hospitals and regional health care systems.”

As the Journal previously reported, CHS confirmed last month that it’s considering selling the company, and it has begun exploring strategic options with its financial sponsors.

CHS is coming off a net second-quarter loss of $1.43 billion, or $12.90 per share, after taking a noncash write-down of goodwill on the value of its hospitals.

The company’s low stock price has attracted new investors, among them Chinese billionaire Tianqiao Chen. In August, CHS reported in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Chen and a group of companies with which he’s affiliated now own about 11.3 million shares, or 9.9 percent, of CHS. 

Days later, Chen added another 88,000 CHS shares to boost the holdings to an even 10 percent, making him the largest investor in CHS. 

Last month, Chen purchased an additional 929,800 shares of CHS, raising his stake in the troubled hospital chain to 13.8 percent of the shares outstanding.