Ziegler Serves as Exclusive Financial Advisor to Salar, Inc.

   Ziegler, a specialty investment banking firm serving the healthcare sector, is pleased to announce the successful sale of Salar, Inc. to Transcend Services. Salar was advised by Ziegler's corporate finance team.

Salar, Inc. is a leading provider of next-generation clinical productivity and revenue enhancement solutions to hospitals and health systems. Salar's integrated suite of electronic documentation and charge capture solutions enhance electronic medical record (EMR) adoption and enable physicians to document patient care more efficiently, while facilitating more accurate billing and increased reimbursement. Salar's solutions are sold to hospitals and physician practices either as stand-alone modules or as components that can be integrated into an existing EMR system. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Baltimore, Salar's solutions are used by leading academic and community hospitals.

Transcend Services is a leading provider of clinical documentation solutions for healthcare organizations. The company's high quality transcription services and applications -- along with leading data extraction and reporting tools -- provide critical data needed to document patient encounters and help drive clinical decision-making. Salar's documentation and charge capture tools will complement Transcend's dictation, speech recognition and document delivery technologies to help customers achieve broad physician EMR adoption and maximize physician productivity.

Ziegler's corporate finance team has demonstrated a strong track record of adding significant value to emerging healthcare services & technology companies by providing long-term strategic, financial and industry guidance. Ziegler assists its clients in forging partnerships with industry leaders, evaluating strategic opportunities and executing M&A and capital raising transactions.

For more information about Ziegler and please visit us at www.Ziegler.com.

About Ziegler: The Ziegler Companies, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ZGCO) together with its affiliates (Ziegler) is a specialty investment bank with unique expertise in complex credit structures and advisory services. Nationally, Ziegler is ranked as one of the leading investment banking firms in its specialty sectors of healthcare, senior living, religion and education finance, as well as corporate finance and FHA/HUD. Headquartered in Chicago, IL with regional and branch offices throughout the U.S., Ziegler creates tailored financial solutions including bond financing, advisory, private placement, seed capital, M&A, risk and asset management. Ziegler serves institutional and individual investors through its wealth management and capital markets distribution channels.

Certain comments in this news release represent forward-looking statements made pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This client's experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients, nor is it indicative of future performance or success. The forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, in particular, the overall financial health of the securities industry, the strength of the healthcare sector of the U.S. economy and the municipal securities marketplace, the ability of the Company to underwrite and distribute securities, the market value of mutual fund portfolios and separate account portfolios advised by the Company, the volume of sales by its retail brokers, the outcome of pending litigation, and the ability to attract and retain qualified employees.

Christine McCarty 312 596 1617 Email Contact