"We are particularly pleased and honored to have Novant Health as our partner," said Burke W. Whitman, HMA's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Novant has an unsurpassed reputation for delivering high quality, innovative health care to the residents and visitors of North Carolina. Novant's partnership will materially reinforce our mission, strengthen our operating performance, and provide a more comprehensive service network for our patients, physicians, and the communities we serve in North and South Carolina."

HMA and Novant will share governance of the joint venture through a partnership board. HMA will continue to manage the hospitals on behalf of the joint venture. The partnership will establish a Quality Advisory Committee, with equal representation from both organizations, whose objective will be to ensure that all seven hospitals exceed the hospital industry's leading benchmarks for clinical and service quality. The partnership will also develop mutually beneficial revenue and operational synergies, including more seamless delivery of care. Over a four-month transition period, Novant will assume ownership and operation of the hospitals' employed physician practices, which HMA will subsidize partially for the first three years if necessary.

HMA and Novant may also invite other providers to participate with them in the ownership of certain hospitals included in the joint venture. Separately, HMA is evaluating similar opportunities for joint venture transactions involving other HMA hospitals. These transactions are consistent with HMA's intent to create collaborative relationships that reinforce quality and customer satisfaction, further the Company's mission, improve its operating performance, strengthen its balance sheet, and enhance shareholder value.

HMA intends to use the net proceeds from the transaction for general corporate purposes. The Company expects the net after-tax proceeds to exceed 90% of the purchase price.

The Company expects to record a book gain from continuing operations of approximately $200 million before tax, or approximately $0.50 per share after tax, on the sale of the 27% minority interest. Separate from this transaction, the Company may record a non-cash write-down of the value of certain other HMA hospitals, based on ongoing evaluations of strategic alternatives for those other HMA hospitals; the potential non-cash write-down may offset a portion of the $200 million gain from this joint venture transaction.

The Company will continue to report the operating results of the hospitals in the joint venture on a consolidated basis. It will report Novant's share of the results as minority interest expense. Because Novant is assuming ownership of the employed physician practices, the Company will begin reporting the physician practice results in discontinued operations.

The Company reiterated its 2008 earnings objective of $0.40-0.50 per diluted share from continuing operations on net revenues $4.5-4.7 billion, excluding the gain from this joint venture transaction and the potential separate non-cash write-down of certain other hospital assets.

Novant Health is a not-for-profit group of hospitals and physician clinics, ranked as our nation's 4th most integrated healthcare system. Novant includes nine hospitals, an 830-physician medical group, two nursing homes and 130 outpatient facilities including diagnostic centers, rehabilitation programs, surgery centers and community health outreach programs.

HMA owns and operates 58 hospitals, with approximately 8,300 licensed beds, in non-urban communities located throughout the United States. The Company's mission is the delivery of compassionate and high quality health care services that improve the quality of life for our patients, physicians, and the communities we serve. All references to "HMA" or the "Company" used in this release refer to Health Management Associates, Inc. or its affiliates.

Certain statements contained in this release, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "expects," "optimistic," and words of similar import, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may include projections of revenue, income or loss, capital expenditures, debt structure, bad debt expense, capital structure, or other financial items, statements regarding the plans and objectives of management for future operations, statements of future economic performance, statements of the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing statements, and other statements which are other than statements of historical fact. Statements made throughout this release are based on current estimates of future events, and HMA has no obligation to update or correct these estimates. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially as a result of these various factors.

SOURCE: Health Management Associates, Inc.

Health Management Associates, Inc. Naples
John C. Merriwether, Vice President of Financial Relations
239-598-3131