HEALTHSOUTH Corporation announced that it has appointed a new independent member to its Board of Directors. Betsy S. Atkins, President and CEO of Baja LLC and co-founder of Ascend Communications, has joined the board. Atkins was recruited by The Directorship Group, an independent search firm engaged by HEALTHSOUTH in December 2002 to identify qualified, independent board candidates. Her appointment was approved and recommended to the Board of Directors by the Board's Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee, consisting of three independent directors and four distinguished corporate governance advisors.

Atkins is a recognized leader in corporate governance, having recently been the keynote speaker at the National Association of Corporate Directors annual meeting and testified before Congress on reforming board governance. Her experience includes service on the boards of Lucent Technologies, UTStarcom, Polycom Inc., and others. While at Ascend, Atkins played an integral role in taking the company public, setting global strategies and positioning markets worldwide. Ascend, a maker of Internet infrastructure, grew to a $5.4 billion public company and was acquired by Lucent Technologies for $23 billion in 1999. She was also appointed by President George W. Bush to the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and serves as a Trustee for Florida International University.

"Betsy Atkins is a business professional with broad experience in running successful corporations. Her proven background in both the private and public sectors makes her a tremendous asset to HEALTHSOUTH's Board," said Richard M. Scrushy, Chairman of the Board and CEO of HEALTHSOUTH.

"HEALTHSOUTH is an outstanding combination of a commitment to the highest quality of positive clinical outcomes for patients combined with a caring attitude and a high quality of customer service," said Atkins. "I'm proud to be a part of their organization."

HEALTHSOUTH is the nation's largest provider of outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and rehabilitative healthcare services, with nearly 1,700 locations in all 50 states, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Puerto Rico. HEALTHSOUTH can be found on the Web at http://www.healthsouth.com/ .

Statements contained in this press release which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the preceding statement, all statements in this press release concerning or relating to estimated and projected earnings, margins, costs, expenditures, cash flows, growth rates and financial results are forward-looking statements. In addition, HEALTHSOUTH, through its senior management, may from time to time make forward-looking public statements concerning the matters described herein. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates based upon current information, involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. HEALTHSOUTH's actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those identified in this press release and in the public filings made by HEALTHSOUTH with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including HEALTHSOUTH's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and forward- looking statements contained in this press release or in other public statements of HEALTHSOUTH or its senior management should be considered in light of those factors. There can be no assurance that such factors or other factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements.

CONTACT: Investor Relations: Jason Brown (205) 967-7116

Media Relations: Public Relations (205) 969-7584

SOURCE: HEALTHSOUTH Corporation