In 1977, a local physician owned hospital named Batesville Hospital sold their 70 hospital beds to Panola County forming South Panola Community Hospital.

South Panola Community Hospital approached the new century in a 25 year old facility that most local residents shunned for healthcare, traveling out of town for their medical needs.

The Panola County Board of Supervisors and the City of Batesville passed a $25 million bond issue to build a new hospital which opened in 2001.

The county, in conjunction with the City of Batesville, built a new facility now known as the main campus while the old hospital became a behavioral health facility commonly referred to as the “west campus”.

South Panola Community hospital was renamed Tri-Lakes Medical Center to reflect the mission to care for the surrounding Enid, Sardis, and Arkabutla Lake communities. A new building, however, did not change the landscape of local healthcare. Inpatient census dwindled down to two patients a day and money had to be borrowed to pay the utility costs.


At the end of the year there was a significant increase in the daily census, which rose to 67 versus the census in 2002 of 20. Panola County residents began to stay at home for healthcare.

Conditions improved into 2004 but the local government was exploring ways to get out of the hospital business. The Supervisors and Aldermen put the possible sale of the hospital to a public referendum in 2004. Eighty-three percent of the voters chose to sell the hospital to the highest bidder.

In November 2005, the hospital was bought for $22.5 million and the Behavioral Health West Campus was bought for $3 million by a not-for-profit Physicians and Surgeons Group.

The non-profit entity secured a loan guarantee from Rural Development, a federal agency. It was the largest loan guarantee made by the federal agency in Mississippi.


Tri-Lakes also set a goal of becoming an accredited hospital through the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

What started as a hospital comprised of 60 employees now boasts over 500 employees.