BAPTIST HEALTH ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT FOR
STUTTGART REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Little Rock, Ark. (September 29, 2008) BAPTIST HEALTH announced that it will begin management of Stuttgart Regional Medical Center on October 1. Formal plans are for this management agreement to become a long-term lease beginning January 1, 2009. At that time the name would become BAPTIST HEALTH Medical Center-Stuttgart.

A management agreement is necessary short-term until the final long-term lease agreement can be formalized, said Russell D. Harrington Jr., president and CEO of BAPTIST HEALTH. BAPTIST HEALTH is eager to be in Stuttgart providing the residents of this area with the full resources that our healthcare system has to offer.

Stuttgart Regional Medical Center is a 49-bed hospital with 290 employees. BAPTIST HEALTH is Arkansas™ most comprehensive healthcare organization with more than 7,500 employees operating six hospitals, not including Stuttgart Regional Medical Center.