Even as revelers were welcoming in the new year in the wee hours of Friday morning, a quiet yet important change was taking place. Starting more than a year ago with the announcement by Covenant Health of plans to build a new hospital in Hobbs, plans finally came to fruition as Lea Regional Medical Center officially changed owners to the …

In August 2019 Covenant Health announced plans to build a new hospital in Hobbs, with a groundbreaking in January 2021, but on Tuesday Covenant announced it will be in Lea County even sooner by purchasing Lea Regional Medical Center. Tuesday, Covenant signed a purchase agreement with Lea Regional and it corporate owner, Community Health Systems Inc., with an anticipated closing …