Basis of Presentation	6 Months Ended
Basis of Presentation	Jun. 30, 2011
Basis of Presentation [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	1. Basis of Presentation HealthSouth Corporation, incorporated in Delaware in 1984, including its subsidiaries, is the largest owner and operator of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in the United States. We operate inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and provide treatment on both an inpatient and outpatient basis. References herein to “HealthSouth,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us” refer to HealthSouth Corporation and its subsidiaries unless otherwise stated or indicated by context. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of HealthSouth Corporation and Subsidiaries should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in HealthSouth’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 24, 2011 (the “2010 Form 10-K”). The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC applicable to interim financial information. Certain information and note disclosures included in financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America have been omitted in these interim statements, as allowed by such SEC rules and regulations. The condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2010 has been derived from audited financial statements, but it does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. However, we believe the disclosures are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. The unaudited results of operations for the interim periods shown in these financial statements are not necessarily indicative of operating results for the entire year. In our opinion, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements recognize all adjustments of a normal recurring nature considered necessary to fairly state the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for each interim period presented. Reclassifications— On May 17, 2011, we entered into a definitive agreement with certain subsidiaries of LifeCare Holdings, Inc. (collectively, the “Buyer”), pursuant to which we agreed to sell, and the Buyer agreed to acquire, substantially all of the assets of all six of our long-term acute care hospitals (“LTCHs”) for approximately $120 million, consisting of cash and retained working capital. On July 21, 2011, HealthSouth and the Buyer amended the definitive agreement to remove HealthSouth Hospital of Houston (the “Houston LTCH”) from the sale transaction and reduce the aggregate purchase price by $2.5 million to $117.5 million. HealthSouth expects to close the Houston LTCH in the third quarter of 2011 and sell the associated real estate. Accordingly, we reclassified our condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2010 to present the assets and liabilities of all six of our LTCHs as held for sale. We also reclassified our condensed consolidated statements of operations and condensed consolidated statements of cash flows for the 2010 periods presented to include these facilities and their results of operations as discontinued operations. The transaction to sell five of our LTCHs was completed on August 1, 2011. See Note 7, Assets Held for Sale and Results of Discontinued Operations. Stock-Based Compensation— In February 2011, we issued 0.7 million of restricted stock awards to members of our management team and our board of directors. The majority of these awards are shares of restricted stock that contain a service and either a performance or market condition. For these awards, the number of shares that will ultimately be granted to employees may vary based on the Company’s performance during the applicable performance measurement period. Additionally, we granted 0.2 million stock options to members of our management team. The fair value of these awards and options were determined using the policies described in the 2010 Form 10-K. In May 2011, our shareholders approved the Amended and Restated 2008 Equity Incentive Plan, which reserves and provides for the grant of up to 9.0 million shares of common stock. Recent Accounting Pronouncements— In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) amended its guidance governing the presentation of comprehensive income. The amended guidance eliminates the option to report other comprehensive income and its components in the statement of changes in equity. Under the new guidance, an entity can elect to present items of net income and other comprehensive income in one continuous statement — referred to as the statement of comprehensive income — or in two separate, but consecutive, statements. While the options for presenting other comprehensive income change under the guidance, other portions of the current guidance will not change. For public entities, these changes are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011. Early adoption is permitted. We implemented this guidance effective with our reporting as of and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010 by moving our condensed consolidated statements of comprehensive income to immediately follow our condensed consolidated statements of operations. This guidance had no other impact on the Company. In July 2011, the FASB ratified the final consensus reached by the Emerging Issues Task Force related to the presentation and disclosure of net revenue, the provision for bad debts, and the allowance for doubtful accounts of healthcare entities. This standard retains the existing revenue recognition model for healthcare entities, pending further developments in the FASB’s revenue recognition project. However, this standard requires the Provision for doubtful accounts associated with patient service revenue to be separately displayed on the face of the statement of operations as a component of net revenue. This standard also requires enhanced disclosures of significant changes in estimates related to patient bad debts. While this standard will have no net impact on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows, it will require us to reclassify our Provision for doubtful accounts from operating expenses to a component of Net operating revenues beginning with the first quarter of 2012, with retrospective application required. Since the filing of the 2010 Form 10-K, we do not believe any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards will have a material effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

Description containing the entire organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure. May be provided in more than one note to the financial statements, as long as users are provided with an understanding of (1) the significant judgments and assumptions made by an enterprise in determining whether it must consolidate a VIE and/or disclose information about its involvement with a VIE, (2) the nature of restrictions on a consolidated VIE's assets reported by an enterprise in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets, (3) the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with an enterprise's involvement with the VIE, and (4) how an enterprise's involvement with the VIE affects the enterprise's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows. Describes procedure if disclosures are provided in more than one note to the financial statements.

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