HealthSouth

HealthSouth's huge accounting scandal has finally come to a close, as the company has agreed to pay $445 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit. HealthSouth will be responsible for $215 million in cash, stocks and warrants and insurance companies will pay the remaining part of the settlement. The $2.7 billion scandal eventually led to the conviction of 15 HealthSouth executives. Though HealthSouth will pay the hefty settlement, the company has admitted no wrongdoing.

For details on the settlement:
- see this Modern Healthcare report

> UnitedHealthcare and Froedtert & Community Health are trying to iron out an ongoing contract dispute. Report

> Authorities have arrested three Brooklyn, NY men--two brothers and an employee--for defrauding Medicaid of millions of dollars. One brother was a doctor, the other a pharmacy owner and the third man a pharmacy employee. The three allegedly billed Medicaid for …

A year ago, former HealthSouth exec Richard Scrushy was acquitted of charges related to the spectacular $2.7 billion accounting fraud that brought the chain of rehabilitation hospitals down. In the process of his defense, Richard Scrushy accrued $32 million in legal charges. An arbitrator has determined that HealthSouth must pay $17 million in legal fees that Scrushy amassed in the course of his defense. It's a hefty reward, but only fixes some of his problems. As a result of accounting …

Last year former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy avoided a conviction related to HealthSouth's $2.64 billion fraud scandal. But as a result of the accounting irregularities, Scrushy walked off with $47.8 million in bonus payments. Now the Alabama Supreme Court has upheld an order requiring him to repay the company $51.5 million--the bonus payment plus interest totaling $15,500 a day. In their opinion, the Court stated, "Scrushy was unjustly enriched by the payment of the bonuses, which …

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 …

> Medical tourism is a hot--but controversial--topic. Patients who find they can't afford high deductibles for expensive surgeries are looking abroad for their healthcare. But health officials worry about the safety of going abroad for unregulated care. Article

> Walgreens is jumping on the in-store health clinic bandwagon by opening clinics in Atlanta, Chicago and Las Vegas stores later this …

> The Los Angeles Times reports that yet another transplant program--this time at USC University Hospital--is in trouble. Analysis of hospital statistics reveals that the USC liver transplant program's mortality rates are twice the national average. As FierceHealthcare readers already know, USC is just one of a growing number of hospitals facing transplant program problems. …

Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy was found guilty of bribing the governor of Alabama in a closely-watched case. A jury in Birmingham found both Scrushy and former Alabama governor Don Sigelman guilty of federal fraud charges. Prosecutors say Scrushy paid $500,000 to Sigelman for a guaranteed seat on the state's hospital board. The former executive was found guilty of bribery, mail fraud and conspiracy charges. Legal analysts expect both Scrushy and Sigelman to face "significant" …

The Wall Street Journal reports that the ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy appears to have benefited from a series of rather suspiciously timed stock-option grants during his tenure with the company. Scrushy is the latest CEO to endure the heat of a WSJ backdating investigation, joining UnitedHealth's Dr. Bill McGuire and Renal Care's Sam Brooks. The newspaper notes that Scrushy, who won an acquittal in his federal fraud trial last year, did not exercise any of the …

Ousted HealthSouth CEO Robert Scrushy failed in his attempt to convince the company's shareholders to make changes to the company's bylaws that could have helped him regain a degree of control. The Wall Street Journal reports that the SEC was called in to referee the dispute over the course of the last few months. Scrushy, who was acquitted of federal fraud charges related to HealthSouth's spectacular flameout last year, now faces charges over an alleged $500,000 bribe to former …