Exhibit 99.1

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HEALTH MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCES 1^st QUARTER 2012 RESULTS

Diluted earnings per share, excluding interest rate swap accounting and

mark-to-market adjustments, increases 9.1% to $0.24

Overall diluted earnings per share are $0.15

NAPLES, FLORIDA (April 23, 2012) Health Management Associates, Inc. (NYSE: HMA) today announced its consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Key metrics from continuing operations for the first quarter (all percentage changes compare the first quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2011) include:

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The tables accompanying this press release include reconciliations of consolidated net income to all presentations of Adjusted EBITDA (which is not a GAAP measure) contained in this press release. Those tables also reconcile earnings per share on a GAAP basis to those amounts presented in this press release and contain disclaimers and other important information regarding how Health Management defines and uses Adjusted EBITDA.

For continuing operations at hospitals operated by Health Management for one year or more, referred to as same hospital operations, net revenue in the first quarter increased $71.2 million or 5.7%, to $1.326 billion compared to the same quarter in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA from same hospital operations grew 6.6% to $264.0 million, representing 19.9% of net revenue, as compared to $247.7 million and 19.7%, respectively, for the same quarter a year ago. Same hospital Adjusted EBITDA includes $4.6 million of Medicare and Medicaid HCIT incentive payments, offsetting government program payment reductions. Declines in both uninsured admissions and flu-related volume contributed to a 4.2% and 0.2% decline in first quarter same hospital admissions and adjusted admissions, respectively. Had uninsured and flu-related volumes been the same as last year, first quarter same hospital admissions would have declined 1.6% and same hospital adjusted admissions would have increased 2.4%.

“Health Management had another great quarter and a great start to 2012, with revenue up 18.4% year over year,” said Gary D. Newsome, Health Management’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our operating strategy continued to generate strong results in the first quarter as we managed our resources relative to the volume and acuity of our patients. We believe that there are further improvement opportunities in our hospitals as we continue to affect change in our processes and systems in emergency room operations, physician recruitment and market service development. In addition, our partnership development pipeline continues to be extremely active.”

Health Management’s provision for doubtful accounts, or bad debt expense, was $201.3 million, or 11.9% of net revenue before the provision for doubtful accounts, for the first quarter compared to $172.1 million, or 12.1% of net revenue before the provision of doubtful accounts, for the same quarter a year ago.

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Uninsured self-pay patient discounts for the first quarter were $299.7 million, compared to $225.7 million for the same quarter a year ago. Charity/indigent care write-offs were $22.7 million for the first quarter, compared to $21.4 million for the same quarter a year ago.

The sum of uninsured discounts, charity/indigent write-offs and bad debt expense, as a percent of the sum of net revenue before the provision for doubtful accounts, uninsured discounts and charity/indigent write-offs (which Health Management refers to as its Uncompensated Patient Care Percentage) was 26.1% for the first quarter, compared to 25.0% for the first quarter a year ago, and 25.4% for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. Health Management believes that its Uncompensated Patient Care Percentage provides key information regarding the aggregate level of patient care for which it does not receive payment.

Cash flow from continuing operating activities for the first quarter was $62.1 million, after cash interest and cash tax payments aggregating $52.8 million. Our cash flows in the first quarter do not reflect the benefit of our Tennova acquisition as we had not received our Medicare tie-in notices as of March 31, 2012. Health Management received the tie-in notices in early April 2012, and we expect to bill and collect the backlog of Tennova Health accounts receivable by the end of the second quarter. Health Management’s total leverage ratio was 4.1 and interest coverage ratio was 4.0 at March 31, 2012, well within its debt requirements.

Health Management hospitals recognized approximately $4.6 million of Medicare and Medicaid HCIT incentive payments in the first quarter ended March 31, 2012. As previously announced, Health Management expects to recognize approximately $90 to $120 million of Medicare and Medicaid HCIT incentive payments during the year ending December 31, 2012. The bulk of these payments are expected to be recorded in the third and fourth quarters of 2012.

Health Management is also affirming its diluted EPS from continuing operations objective range for the year ending December 31, 2012 to be between $0.80 and $0.90. This diluted EPS range for 2012 does not include approximately $96 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, of impact expected from interest rate swap accounting and mark-to-market adjustments nor does it include approximately $90 to $120 million of anticipated Medicare and Medicaid HCIT incentive payments.

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As previously announced on April 2, 2012, subsidiaries of Health Management completed a joint venture transaction with respect to five INTEGRIS Health Oklahoma hospitals. Under the joint venture, which was effective April 1, 2012, Health Management now owns an 80% controlling interest in the five hospitals and manages their day-to-day operations. The INTEGRIS Health hospital partners include: 53-bed Integris Blackwell Regional Hospital, located in Blackwell; 64-bed Integris Clinton Regional Hospital, located in Clinton; 25-bed Integris Marshall County Medical Center, located in Madill; 52-bed Integris Mayes County Medical Center, located in Pryor; and 32-bed Integris Seminole Medical Center, located in Seminole. Combined, these five hospitals have an aggregate of 226 licensed beds and generated approximately $95 million of net revenue, before the provision for doubtful accounts, over the last twelve months.

Health Management’s executive team will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss the contents of this press release and Health Management’s consolidated financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2012 on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. Investors are invited to access the webcast via Health Management’s website at www.HMA.com or via www.streetevents.com. Alternatively, investors may join the conference call by dialing 877-476-3476.

Health Management will archive a copy of the audio webcast of the conference call, along with any related information that Health Management may be required to provide pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission rules, on its website under the heading “Investor Relations” for a period of 60 days following the conference call.

Health Management enables America’s best local health care by providing the people, processes, capital and expertise necessary for its hospital and physician partners to fulfill their local missions of delivering superior health care services. Health Management, through its subsidiaries operates 71 hospitals, with approximately 10,600 licensed beds, in non-urban communities located throughout the United States.

All references to “Health Management,” “HMA” or the “Company” used in this release refer to Health Management Associates, Inc. and its affiliates.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as “expects,” “estimates,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “continues,” “should,” “could” and other similar words. All statements addressing operating performance, events or developments that Health Management Associates, Inc. expects or anticipates will occur in the future, including but not limited to incurrence of indebtedness, projections of revenue, income or loss, capital expenditures, earnings per share, debt structure, bad debt expense, capital structure, repayment of indebtedness, the amount and timing of funds under the meaningful use measurement standard of various Healthcare Information Technology (“HCIT”) incentive programs, other financial items and operating statistics, statements regarding the plans and objectives of management for future operations, innovations, or market service development, statements regarding acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures and other proposed or contemplated transactions (including but not limited to statements regarding the potential for future acquisitions and perceived benefits of acquisitions), statements of future economic performance, statements regarding legal proceedings and other loss contingencies, statements regarding market risk exposures, statements regarding the effects and/or interpretations of recently enacted or future health care laws and regulations, statements of the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing statements, and other statements which are other than statements of historical fact, are considered to be “forward-looking statements.”

Because they are forward-looking, such statements should be evaluated in light of important risk factors and uncertainties. These risk factors and uncertainties are more fully described in Health Management Associates, Inc.’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, including under the heading entitled “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of Health Management Associates, Inc.’s underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could vary materially from those currently anticipated. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed on Health Management Associates, Inc.’s forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Health Management Associates, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update its risk factors or to publicly announce updates to the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect new information, future events or other developments.

(financial tables follow)

HEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(unaudited, in thousands, except per share amounts)

HEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(unaudited, in thousands)

HEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS AND STATISTICS

HEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME INFORMATION

(unaudited, in thousands)

HEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME INFORMATION

(unaudited, in thousands, except per share amounts)

The following table provides information regarding income from continuing operations attributable to Health Management, excluding the impact of the interest rate swap amortization and mark-to-market adjustments. This table is a non-GAAP presentation; nonetheless, Health Management believes that providing this detail is beneficial to investors and other readers of Health Management’s financial statements due to the significant impact these items had on income from continuing operations attributable to Health Management.

Three Months Ended March 31, 2012

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