American Retirement Corporation to Enter Pharmacy Venture with Omnicare, LifeTrust America.

COVINGTON, Ky. and NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BW HealthWire)-- Nov. 5, 1998--Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE:OCR) and American Retirement Corporation (NYSE:ACR) announced today that American Retirement Corporation will become an equity partner in LifeMed, LLC, a joint venture currently owned by Omnicare and LifeTrust America, Inc. LifeMed, based in Nashville, Tennessee, provides pharmacy services focusing on the specialized needs of assisted living residences.

Under this new arrangement, LifeMed will be owned equally by the partners and will serve certain of American Retirement Corporation's assisted living communities in addition to those already served by the venture. In addition to prescription distribution services, LifeMed will provide medication management and pharmacy consulting services as well as other programs to promote health and wellness among senior living community residents.

Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Joel F. Gemunder, President of Omnicare, stated, "We welcome American Retirement Corporation into LifeMed, our partnership with LifeTrust. This new association with American Retirement Corporation, one of the nation's largest providers of senior living and health and wellness services for seniors across the United States, presents a dynamic opportunity to further leverage the expertise we have gained in geriatric pharmaceutical care beyond our traditional skilled nursing facility market to a broader continuum of care. With unique concepts such as its senior living networks, American Retirement Corporation has proven to be a rapidly growing organization, one with a national focus, and we look forward to the opportunity to expand this relationship."

Mr. W.E. Sheriff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Retirement Corporation, said, "We are pleased to enter into the LifeMed venture with Omnicare and LifeTrust - organizations with which we share a common vision regarding the quality of life for the elderly. As the nation's leading geriatric pharmaceutical services company, Omnicare brings to this partnership the resources and programs to significantly enhance the pharmaceutical care and wellness management of our resident population. Our investment in the venture also underscores our commitment not only to ensure high quality, innovative services for the residents of our senior living communities but also to create value for our shareholders."

LifeTrust America, Inc., located in Nashville, Tennessee, is a privately held senior services company providing community based residential and wellcare services. The company was formed in 1996 by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and R. Clayton McWhorter, former Chairman of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation. LifeTrust's primary residential service is the development, ownership and operation of Morningside assisted living residences. LifeTrust has 25 operating residences, with an additional 35 residences opening in 1999 in six states.

"Omnicare and American Retirement Corporation enjoy stellar reputations and LifeTrust is proud to be affiliated with them in this enterprise. We have enjoyed early success with the LifeMed venture and are very pleased to see it expand. The economies of scale and ability to leverage resources will be mutually beneficial to all LifeMed partners," stated Mr. David R. White, newly appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of LifeTrust.

American Retirement Corporation is a national senior living and health care services provider offering a broad range of care and services to seniors, including independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, and home health care services. The Company currently operates 39 senior living communities in 15 states with an aggregate capacity for approximately 11,800 residents. The Company is constructing or developing 33 additional senior living communities and expansion projects at seven of its retirement communities, which in the aggregate will add capacity for approximately 4,300 residents. The Company also operates six home health care agencies, including two agencies managed for third parties.

Omnicare is a leading geriatric pharmaceutical care company. Currently serving 565,300 residents in approximately 7,300 long-term care facilities in 41 states, Omnicare is the nation's largest provider of professional pharmacy, related consulting and data management services for long-term care, assisted living and other institutional health care providers. Omnicare also provides comprehensive clinical research services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

(Statements in this press release concerning Omnicare's and ARC's respective business outlook, future economic performances, and expected benefits from the LifeMed venture, together with other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements that are estimates reflecting the best judgement of Omnicare and ARC, respectively, based on currently available information. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that could cause results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those stated. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Omnicare and/or ARC, include overall economic and business conditions, trends for the continued growth of the pharmacy business of LifeMed, the demand for LifeMed's products and services, pricing and other competitive factors in the industry, the effect of new government regulations and/or legislative initiatives including those relating to reimbursement policies and in the interpretation and application of such policies, and other risks and uncertainties described in Omnicare's and American Retirement Corporation's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no such assurance that such factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements, and Omnicare and American Retirement Corporation assume no obligation to update the information in this release.)