BIRMINGHAM, AL – Inpatient rehabilitation operator, HealthSouth, is realigning its hospitals into six regions in order to position itself for future expansion.
The hospitals have been realigned as such, effective Sept. 1:
• Mid-Atlantic region – 14 hospitals located in South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia; Ed Mowen, president
• Southwest region – 19 hospitals in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas; Frank Brown, president
• West region – 14 hospitals in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah; Jerry Gray, president
• Northeast region – 17 hospitals in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania; Peter Mantegazza, president
• Central region – 15 hospitals in Kansas, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee and one hospital in Bristol, Va.; Terry Maxhimer, president
• Southeast region – 17 hospitals in Alabama, Florida and Puerto Rico; Linda Wilder, president
"Our development plans are accelerating as expected and, to maintain our clinical and operational focus while positioning the company for future expansion, we are realigning our hospitals and adding a new region to our organizational infrastructure," said HealthSouth President and Chief Executive Officer Jay Grinney in a statement.
The company’s efforts to strengthen its position for future expansion includes the sale of HealthSouth’s long-term acute care hospitals (LTCHs) to LifeCare Holdings, which was completed for about $117.5 million earlier this month.
[See also: LifeCare to acquire all of HealthSouth's long-term acute care hospitals.]
“The sale of these long-term acute care hospitals to LifeCare reinforces HealthSouth's strategic focus on our core inpatient rehabilitation hospitals," said Grinney in the company’s announcement of the completion of the sale. “The sale of the LTCHs has accelerated our plan to eliminate the 10.75 percent senior notes and positions us to achieve our target leverage ratio of 3.0x during 2011. The removal of this expensive debt from our capital structure will have a favorable effect on our future free cash flow generation.”
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