HealthSouth Corp. announced this week the appointment of Mike Snow, age 49, to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective June 30, 2004. Snow, who most recently served as the President of the Gulf Coast Division of HCA, will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company on an ongoing basis.

Snow has an extensive background in the healthcare industry. Since 1996, he has served as President of one of HCA's largest Divisions, which has annual net revenues of $2 billion and more than 11,000 employees.

Over the past year, the company has been surrounded by scandal in which 15 of the company’s executives pleaded guilty of fraud, including five past CFO’s. Founder and former CEO Richard Scrushy was accused of making millions in a conspiracy to inflate the company's earnings and has been indicted more than 85 criminal counts charging him with fraud.

According to Reuters, forensic professionals working with the company's new management said the fraud could be in excess of $4 billion.