HealthSouth may sell units, pay off debt

HealthSouth, which is still in the process of recovering form a 2.7 billion accounting scandal, announced that it many sell its surgery centers and outpatient rehabilitation unit. The company would to center its efforts on its more lucrative inpatient rehab hospitals, which account for over half of company's revenue and 86 percent of operating earnings. HealthSouth hopes that the sale of the unit will help the company pay off $1 billion of debt in five years. In 2003 the company was the subject of a federal investigation. Just recently former CEO Richard Scrushy was found guilty of bribing the governor of Alabama, though last year he was acquitted of charges related to the accounting scandal. He still faces a civil suit over the matter.

- see this article from The Washington Post