AMC and Ville Platte Medical Center to Create Joint Hospital System

10/20/2009

Ville Platte, LA and Eunice, LA (October 20, 2009) Ville Platte Medical Center and Acadian Medical Center today announced they will join forces to create a single health system that will provide healthcare services to 140,000 residents throughout south central Louisiana. The hospitals, which are located 18 miles apart, will operate as one, comprehensive medical center with two campuses.

"Uniting Ville Platte Medical Center and Acadian Medical Center as one hospital system is very exciting for our employees, our patients and our communities," said Alan Daugherty, CEO of Ville Platte Medical Center, who will become CEO of the combined system. "Ville Platte and Acadian have been part of the same family for many years and have many things in common including a shared mission and very similar cultures and operating structures. By becoming one medical center with two strategically located campuses, we will be able to provide new specialized services and offer an even higher level of care to more people in this region."

Ville Platte Medical Center and Acadian Medical Center are both affiliated with LifePoint Hospitals, a leading hospital company focused on providing healthcare services in non-urban communities. The hospitals share an unwavering commitment to provide the highest quality care and have a common mission: "making communities healthier."

By combining their resources and expertise, Ville Platte Medical Center and Acadian Medical Center will be better positioned to meet the challenges of today's healthcare environment and better able to grow and expand their services to meet the needs of the south central Louisiana region. As one medical center, the hospitals also will have enhanced operational efficiencies and improved market opportunities.

"We are thrilled to bring Ville Platte Medical Center and Acadian Medical Center together," said Butch Frazier, CEO of Acadian Medical Center, who will become the Chief Operating Officer of the combined medical center. "Although the Ville Platte and Acadian facilities will continue to operate in the Ville Platte and Eunice communities as they have for decades, by uniting our operations, we will have unprecedented ability to expand the services we provide and offer exciting new opportunities for advancement for our staff."

The process for completing the consolidation of operations is expected to take approximately six months with a projected completion date of April 1, 2010. The transition will include multiple organizational, legal, operational, and regulatory tracks as well as an eventual name change that will unite the facilities as one medical center.

The combined medical center will maintain the current Ville Platte and Acadian facilities located in Ville Platte and Eunice and the services currently offered at each location will remain.

In addition to Mr. Daugherty and Mr. Frazier, the management team of the united hospital will include Lori Petrie as Chief Financial Officer and Sandy Morein as Chief Nursing Officer.

For more information, please contact Michele Fruge, Director of Marketing & Public Relations at (337) 580-7970.