HealthSouth Corp. (NYSE:HLS - news), still struggling with the fallout from an accounting scandal, posted a bigger quarterly loss on Thursday after one-time expenses, while revenue fell due to more stringent Medicare payments to its rehabilitation hospitals.

Shares dropped 8 percent in morning trading.

"The overall operating trends continue to deteriorate," said Frank Morgan, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. "Almost all business segments are negative."

Recent new rules under Medicare, the federal health insurance program for 43 million elderly and disabled, have restricted the types of patients that quality for reimbursement at its rehabilitation facilities, and depressed HealthSouth revenues.

Admissions to the biggest U.S. owner of rehabilitation facilities also dropped on fewer referrals from general hospitals. The rising numbers of uninsured patients and weaker employer-sponsored benefits have pushed down patient volume to general hospitals.

The third-quarter net loss rose to $82.6 million, or $1.04 per share, from $11.5 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

On an operating basis, adjusting for a one-for-five reverse stock split, HealthSouth lost about 4 cents per share, according to Morgan, who rated the stock as "hold."

Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates, on average, looked for a loss of 3 cents per share.

HealthSouth, still emerging from a $2.7 billion accounting fraud that led to a restatement of several years of results, also faces pressure from tighter requirements under Medicare, the federal health insurance for 43 million elderly and disabled.

Total revenue fell 4.6 percent to $731.2 million. Revenue in its biggest division -- inpatient rehabilitation -- dropped 4.6 percent.

The Birmingham, Alabama-based company is selling its outpatient, surgery and diagnostics units to help pay down about $3.2 billion in debt that was amassed as it restated.

The accounting scandal led to investigations by U.S. regulators and the ouster of founder and chief executive Richard Scrushy.

It has settled charges over its financial reporting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department, and has agreed to pay $445 million to settle investor class-action lawsuits.

The latest results included expenses of $28.4 million related to government, class action and other lawsuits.

In March, HealthSouth entered into a credit deal to swap 50 percent of its long-term debt to fixed rates, which resulted in a net loss of $28.7 million in the third quarter.

The company was relisted on the New York Stock Exchange in mid-October. Its CEO has said he expected the company to be profitable in the first half of 2007, once it divests three of its units.

The company was delisted in March 2003 by the NYSE as the accounting fraud unfolded. Fifteen HealthSouth executives eventually pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a scheme to inflate earnings, though Scrushy was acquitted on charges he engineered the fraud.

The stock fell $1.75 to $20.25 on the NYSE. Shares are down about 8 percent this year.