• Meridian Extends Walthall County Contract

(Tallahassee, FL / October 20, 2008) Meridian Healthcare Group, Inc. ("Meridian") has entered into an agreement to extend its management of the cardiopulmonary services at Walthall County General Hospital in Tylertown, Mississippi. Tylertown is located in Walthall County, in southwest Mississippi, approximately 90 miles north of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Walthall County General Hospital is a non-profit county hospital accredited by the Joint Commission. . The hospital opened in March 1970 to provide medical care to the people of Walthall County and surrounding areas. Meridian has provided cardiopulmonary services to Walthall County General Hospital since 1981.

Walthall County General Hospital is part of a Meridian’s network of Mississippi facilities that include sites in Tylertown, Biloxi and Natchez, Mississippi. Meridian has been shaping the future of respiratory care for over four decades and we are pleased that the hospital’s Board of Directors have elected to continue to work with Meridian to meet Walthall County’s medical need for cardiopulmonary care, said Tom R. Futch, Meridian President & CEO.”

Meridian Healthcare Group, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, is a nationally recognized leader in the field of pulmonary medicine providing services to patients in forty states.

As one of the largest providers of contract therapy and disease state management in the United States, Meridian has built a national network of clinical programs in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient clinics, homecare centers, polysomnography laboratories and respiratory pharmacies.