Gentiva® Health Services Completes Planned Management Succession of Key Executives

ATLANTA, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTIV), a leading provider of home health and hospice services, announced today that effective with the close of the Company's 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders its Board of Directors has appointed Eric R. Slusser to succeed John R. Potapchuk as the Company's Chief Financial Officer and John N. Camperlengo to succeed Stephen B. Paige as the Company's General Counsel. Messrs. Potapchuk and Paige will remain with Gentiva as Special Advisors to the Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel, respectively. These appointments complete the Company's planned management succession to its Atlanta corporate headquarters.

"I want to welcome both Eric Slusser and John Camperlengo to their new executive positions," said Gentiva CEO and President Tony Strange. "Eric brings significant healthcare finance experience to Gentiva and has quickly become a valued member of our senior management team in his six months with us. John has been with Gentiva for 10 years and has served as our Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for nearly five years, two roles that have well prepared him for his new position. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Eric and John as we focus on growing Gentiva's core Home Health and Hospice businesses and expanding our leadership position in the industry."

Mr. Strange continued, "On behalf of all of our patients, our employees, our shareholders and the Board of Directors, I want to thank John and Steve for their many years of dedicated service to Gentiva. Their collective talents and knowledge of Gentiva and our industry have been vital to leading our Company to where it is today. I look forward to their continued contributions as we complete the succession process."

Mr. Slusser has served as Senior Vice President of Finance for Gentiva since October 2009. He brings more than 25 years of diverse financial and operational experience to the Company, having worked in management roles at large companies including Centene Corporation, where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Cardinal Health Inc.; Sprint PCS Group; and MCI Inc. In addition, Mr. Slusser worked in the audit division of Arthur Andersen, supporting clients from a range of industries on projects that included merger and acquisitions and business consulting. He earned a Master of Business Administration Degree from the University of Missouri and has been licensed as a Certified Public Accountant since 1983.

Mr. Camperlengo was named general counsel and secretary in May 2010. He became chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel in 2005, and has been a senior vice president of the Company since 2008. Mr. Camperlengo joined Gentiva in 2000 as senior counsel and held a number of increasingly important legal positions over the years. From November 2007 to May 2008, he served as vice president and chief compliance officer of Duane Reade Holdings, Inc., a retail pharmacy chain, and from 1992 to 2000, he held various legal and compliance positions with The Prudential Insurance Company of America and its subsidiaries. He holds a bachelor's degree from St. John's University and a law degree from Seton Hall University. Mr. Camperlengo is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.

About Gentiva Health Services, Inc.

Gentiva Health Services, Inc. is a leading provider of home health and hospice services, delivering innovative, high quality care to patients across the United States. Gentiva is a single source for skilled nursing; physical, occupational, speech and neurorehabilitation services; hospice services; social work; nutrition; disease management education; help with daily living activities; and other therapies and services. For more information, visit Gentiva's web site, http://www.gentiva.com, and its investor relations section at http://investors.gentiva.com. GTIV-G

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain statements contained in this news release, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "expects," "assumes," "trends" and similar expressions, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current plans, expectations and projections about future events. However, such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among others, the following: economic and business conditions, including the ability to access capital markets; demographic changes; changes in, or failure to comply with, existing governmental regulations; the impact on our Company of recently passed healthcare reform legislation and its subsequent implementation through governmental regulations; changes in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement levels; effects of competition in the markets in which the Company operates; liability and other claims asserted against the Company; ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; availability and terms of capital; loss of significant contracts or reduction in revenues associated with major payer sources; ability of customers to pay for services; business disruption due to natural disasters, pandemic outbreaks, or terrorist acts; ability to successfully integrate the operations of acquisitions the Company may make and achieve expected synergies and operational efficiencies within expected time-frames; effect on liquidity of the Company's debt service requirements; and changes in estimates and judgments associated with critical accounting policies and estimates. For a detailed discussion of certain of these and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in this news release, please refer to the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the "Risk Factors" section contained in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 3, 2010.    

SOURCE Gentiva Health Services, Inc.