[5] Encompass Health has been recognized by numerous business publications and industry groups for its excellence in corporate governance, culture, and clinical outcomes.

[7] [8] Encompass Health was incorporated as Amcare, Inc. on February 22, 1984 in Birmingham, Alabama by Richard M. Scrushy and four co-founders as a provider of outpatient rehabilitation services.

One banker in attendance told Aaron Beam, co-founder and then CFO, that he had never seen a reaction like that before and attributed it to Scrushy's remarkable ability to sell the concept behind HealthSouth.

The company moved its listing to the New York Stock Exchange in 1989 and purchased the 219-bed South Highlands Hospital on Birmingham's Southside.

[15] The acquisition double the size of the company and made HealthSouth the nation's largest provider of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation.

[23] A few months after the acquisition closed, HealthSouth sold Horizon/CMS's long-term care assets to Integrated Health Services for $1.15 billion in cash.

[25] By 1999, the company, along with most healthcare providers, began experiencing a decline in earnings following the passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

It also had expanded into international markets through its many acquisitions, with facilities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Puerto Rico, Canada, and later Saudi Arabia.

[28] Later that year, the company announced it was partnering with Oracle Corporation to build the world's first all-digital acute care hospital.

The 13-story structure, known informally as the "Digital Hospital", would be built in Birmingham on 19-acres of land adjacent to HealthSouth's corporate headquarters and serve as a replacement for its Southside medical center.

Scrushy and other high-ranking executives were accused of directing company employees to report false earnings in order to meet Wall Street's expectations.

[37] The restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal was brought in, at the advice of JPMorgan Chase, to assist with financial restatements and to work with HealthSouth's lenders.

[40] U.S. Can Corporation executive John Workman was brought in to serve as the company's CFO, and Mike Snow, president of HCA's Gulf Coast division, joined as COO.

[43] The company sold its Southside medical center in Birmingham to UAB in early 2006, marking the end of its venture into orthopedic-focused acute care hospitals.

[47] The last step in the company's recovery from the accounting scandal occurred in October when HealthSouth was relisted on the New York Stock Exchange.

[49] In April, HealthSouth announced a definitive agreement to sell its diagnostic division to private equity firm The Gores Group.

[52] The incomplete hospital was eventually sold to Community Health Systems and today is known as Grandview Medical Center.

[54] The company continued to grow this business with additional acquisitions, including CareSouth in 2015, Camillia Healthcare in 2018, Alacare in 2019, and Frontier Home Health and Hospice in 2021.