HEALTHSOUTH Corp. (HLS, Financial) filed Annual Report for the period ended 2010-12-31.
Healthsouth Corp. has a market cap of $2.11 billion; its shares were traded at around $22.57 with a P/E ratio of 13.1 and P/S ratio of 1.1. Hedge Fund Gurus that owns HLS: Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Capital Management, LLC, Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global Investors LP, George Soros of Soros Fund Management LLC, Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC, Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates, Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors. Mutual Fund and Other Gurus that owns HLS: James Barrow of Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, Chuck Royce of Royce& Associates.
Over the last several years, changes in regulation governing inpatient rehabilitation reimbursement have created challenges for inpatient rehabilitation providers. Many of these changes have resulted in limitations on, and in some cases, reductions in, the levels of payments to healthcare providers. For example, on May 7, 2004, CMS issued a final rule, known as the “75% Rule,” stipulating that to qualify as an inpatient rehabilitation hospital under the Medicare program a facility must show that a certain percentage of its patients are treated for at least one of a specified and limited list of medical conditions. Under the 75% Rule, any inpatient rehabilitation hospital that failed to meet its requirements would be subject to prospective reclassification as an acute care hospital, with lower acute care payment rates for rehabilitative services. On December 29, 2007, the Medicare, Medicaid and State Children s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Extension Act of 2007 (the “2007 Medicare Act”) was signed, permanently setting the compliance threshold at 60% instead of 75% and allowing hospitals to continue using a patient s secondary medical conditions, or “comorbidities,” to determine whether a patient qualifies for inpatient rehabilitative care under the rule. The long-term impact of the freeze at the 60% compliance threshold is positive because it allowed patient volumes to stabilize. In another example, the 2007 Medicare Act included an elimination of the IRF-PPS market basket adjustment for the period from April 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009 causing a reduction in the pricing of services eligible for Medicare reimbursement to a pricing level that existed in the third quarter of 2007, or a Medicare pricing “roll-back,” which resulted in a decrease in actual reimbursement dollars per discharge despite increases in costs.
On July 22, 2010, CMS published in the federal register the fiscal year 2011 notice of final rulemaking for the IRF-PPS. This rule is effective for Medicare discharges between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011. The pricing changes in this rule include a 2.5% market basket update that has been reduced to 2.25% under the requirements of the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws discussed above, as well as other pricing changes that impact our hospital-by-hospital base rate for Medicare reimbursement. Based on our analysis which includes the acuity of our patients over the last twelve months and incorporates other adjustments under this rule, we believe this rule will increase our Medicare-related Net operating revenues for our IRFs by approximately 2.1% annually. Beginning on October 1, 2011, the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws require for the first time a to-be-determined productivity adjustment (reduction) to the market basket update on an annual basis. The new productivity adjustments will be equal to the trailing 10-year average of changes in annual income economy-wide private nonfarm business multi-
Outpatient Services. Our outpatient services are primarily reimbursed under the Medicare physician fee schedule. By statute, the physician fee schedule is subject to annual automatic adjustment by a sustainable growth rate formula that has resulted in reductions in reimbursement rates every year since 2002. However, in each instance, Congress has acted to suspend or postpone the effectiveness of these automatic reimbursement reductions. For example, Congress passed, and on June 25, 2010 President Obama signed into law, a 2.2% increase to Medicare physician fee schedule payment rates from June 1, 2010 through November 30, 2010, further postponing the statutory reduction of 21.3% that briefly became effective on June 1, 2010. Subsequently, Congress acted to postpone the statutory reduction through December 31, 2010 and then again through December 31, 2011. If Congress does not extend this relief, as it has done since 2002, or permanently modify the sustainable growth rate formula by January 1, 2012, payment levels for outpatient services under the physician fee schedule will be reduced at that point by more than 25%.
On August 27, 2009, CMS published in the federal register final regulations that updated payment rates under the LTCH-PPS for rate year 2010, which were effective for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010 and included a 2.5% market basket update less an adjustment of 0.5% to account for changes in documentation and coding practices. The 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws further reduced this market basket update by 0.25% from April 1, 2010 through September 30, 2010.
On August 16, 2010, CMS published in the federal register the fiscal year 2011 notice of final rulemaking for the LTCH-PPS. This rule is effective for Medicare discharges between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011. The pricing changes in this rule include a 2.5% market basket update that is reduced to 0% to correct for what CMS characterizes as case-mix reimbursement increases in 2008 and 2009 resulting from changes in documentation and coding practices, less an additional reduction of 0.5% as mandated by the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws discussed above. These final regulations also included changes to the table of MS-LTC-DRG relative weights and other payment provisions under the LTCH-PPS. These final regulations did not materially impact our Net operating revenues in 2010, nor are they expected to materially impact our 2011 Net operating revenues. Beginning on October 1, 2011, the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws require for the first time a to-be-determined productivity adjustment (reduction) to the LTCH-PPS market basket update on an annual basis.
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Healthsouth Corp. has a market cap of $2.11 billion; its shares were traded at around $22.57 with a P/E ratio of 13.1 and P/S ratio of 1.1. Hedge Fund Gurus that owns HLS: Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Capital Management, LLC, Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global Investors LP, George Soros of Soros Fund Management LLC, Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC, Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates, Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors. Mutual Fund and Other Gurus that owns HLS: James Barrow of Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, Chuck Royce of Royce& Associates.
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Most notably for us, these laws include a reduction in annual market basket updates to hospitals. Starting on April 1, 2010, the market basket update of 2.5% we received on October 1, 2009 was reduced to 2.25%. Similar reductions to our annual market basket update will occur each year through 2019, although the amount of each year s decrease will vary over time. In addition, beginning on October 1, 2011, the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws require an additional to-be-determined productivity adjustment (reduction) to the market basket update on an annual basis. The new productivity adjustments will be equal to the trailing 10-year average of changes in annual economy-wide private nonfarm business multi-factor productivity. We estimate that the first annual adjustment effective October 1, 2011 will be a decrease to the market basket update of approximately 1%.Over the last several years, changes in regulation governing inpatient rehabilitation reimbursement have created challenges for inpatient rehabilitation providers. Many of these changes have resulted in limitations on, and in some cases, reductions in, the levels of payments to healthcare providers. For example, on May 7, 2004, CMS issued a final rule, known as the “75% Rule,” stipulating that to qualify as an inpatient rehabilitation hospital under the Medicare program a facility must show that a certain percentage of its patients are treated for at least one of a specified and limited list of medical conditions. Under the 75% Rule, any inpatient rehabilitation hospital that failed to meet its requirements would be subject to prospective reclassification as an acute care hospital, with lower acute care payment rates for rehabilitative services. On December 29, 2007, the Medicare, Medicaid and State Children s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Extension Act of 2007 (the “2007 Medicare Act”) was signed, permanently setting the compliance threshold at 60% instead of 75% and allowing hospitals to continue using a patient s secondary medical conditions, or “comorbidities,” to determine whether a patient qualifies for inpatient rehabilitative care under the rule. The long-term impact of the freeze at the 60% compliance threshold is positive because it allowed patient volumes to stabilize. In another example, the 2007 Medicare Act included an elimination of the IRF-PPS market basket adjustment for the period from April 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009 causing a reduction in the pricing of services eligible for Medicare reimbursement to a pricing level that existed in the third quarter of 2007, or a Medicare pricing “roll-back,” which resulted in a decrease in actual reimbursement dollars per discharge despite increases in costs.
On July 22, 2010, CMS published in the federal register the fiscal year 2011 notice of final rulemaking for the IRF-PPS. This rule is effective for Medicare discharges between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011. The pricing changes in this rule include a 2.5% market basket update that has been reduced to 2.25% under the requirements of the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws discussed above, as well as other pricing changes that impact our hospital-by-hospital base rate for Medicare reimbursement. Based on our analysis which includes the acuity of our patients over the last twelve months and incorporates other adjustments under this rule, we believe this rule will increase our Medicare-related Net operating revenues for our IRFs by approximately 2.1% annually. Beginning on October 1, 2011, the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws require for the first time a to-be-determined productivity adjustment (reduction) to the market basket update on an annual basis. The new productivity adjustments will be equal to the trailing 10-year average of changes in annual income economy-wide private nonfarm business multi-
Outpatient Services. Our outpatient services are primarily reimbursed under the Medicare physician fee schedule. By statute, the physician fee schedule is subject to annual automatic adjustment by a sustainable growth rate formula that has resulted in reductions in reimbursement rates every year since 2002. However, in each instance, Congress has acted to suspend or postpone the effectiveness of these automatic reimbursement reductions. For example, Congress passed, and on June 25, 2010 President Obama signed into law, a 2.2% increase to Medicare physician fee schedule payment rates from June 1, 2010 through November 30, 2010, further postponing the statutory reduction of 21.3% that briefly became effective on June 1, 2010. Subsequently, Congress acted to postpone the statutory reduction through December 31, 2010 and then again through December 31, 2011. If Congress does not extend this relief, as it has done since 2002, or permanently modify the sustainable growth rate formula by January 1, 2012, payment levels for outpatient services under the physician fee schedule will be reduced at that point by more than 25%.
On August 27, 2009, CMS published in the federal register final regulations that updated payment rates under the LTCH-PPS for rate year 2010, which were effective for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010 and included a 2.5% market basket update less an adjustment of 0.5% to account for changes in documentation and coding practices. The 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws further reduced this market basket update by 0.25% from April 1, 2010 through September 30, 2010.
On August 16, 2010, CMS published in the federal register the fiscal year 2011 notice of final rulemaking for the LTCH-PPS. This rule is effective for Medicare discharges between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011. The pricing changes in this rule include a 2.5% market basket update that is reduced to 0% to correct for what CMS characterizes as case-mix reimbursement increases in 2008 and 2009 resulting from changes in documentation and coding practices, less an additional reduction of 0.5% as mandated by the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws discussed above. These final regulations also included changes to the table of MS-LTC-DRG relative weights and other payment provisions under the LTCH-PPS. These final regulations did not materially impact our Net operating revenues in 2010, nor are they expected to materially impact our 2011 Net operating revenues. Beginning on October 1, 2011, the 2010 Healthcare Reform Laws require for the first time a to-be-determined productivity adjustment (reduction) to the LTCH-PPS market basket update on an annual basis.
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