The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it will loan $20 million to a group raising money for a new hospital in Sidney.

The agency announced in a news release Monday that it has awarded $20 million to the Cheyenne County Hospital Association that will be leveraged with a $20 million loan from AgStar Financial Services and $9.8 million from the hospital.

Sidney Regional Medical Center chief executive officer Jason Petik calls the USDA loan a "major step" in efforts to build a new hospital.

Plans call for building a new hospital on a 20-acre site to replace the current hospital, originally built in 1955.