FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Dakotas-based Sanford Health says its affiliation with a northwest Minnesota hospital will become official on Tuesday.

Sanford late last year signed a letter of intent with Bemidji’s North Country Health Services, which serves an area with about 100,000 people. Sanford was formed in 2009 by the merger of large health systems in North Dakota and South Dakota and bills itself as the nation’s largest not-for-profit rural health care provider.

Sanford describes the deal with the hospital that will be renamed Sanford Bemidji Medical Center as a merger because North Country Health was community owned and no money exchanged hands. Sanford also has a clinic in Bemidji that has worked closely with the hospital for decades.

Sanford plans to invest $70 million in Bemidji resources in the next 10 years.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)