SELECT MEDICAL HOLDINGS CORP - Annual Report: 2013 (Form 10-K)

Use these links to rapidly review the document
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SELECT MEDICAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION AND SELECT MEDICAL CORPORATION INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Table of Contents

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

Commission file numbers: 001-34465 and 001-31441

SELECT MEDICAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION
SELECT MEDICAL CORPORATION
(Exact name of Registrants as specified in their Charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
NONE

           Indicate by check mark if the registrants are well-known seasoned issuers, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes o    No þ

           Indicate by check mark if the registrants are not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o    No þ

           Indicate by check mark whether the registrants (1) have filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding twelve months (or for such shorter period that the registrants were required to file such reports), and (2) have been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ    No o

           Indicate by check mark whether the registrants have submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding twelve months (or for such shorter period that the registrants were required to submit and post such files). Yes þ    No o

           Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrants' knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

           Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

           Indicate by check mark whether the registrants are shell companies (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes o    No þ

           The aggregate market value of Holdings' voting stock held by non-affiliates at June 28, 2013 (the last business day of Holdings' most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $518,721,725, based on the closing price per share of common stock on that date of $8.20 as reported on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of common stock known by the registrants to be beneficially owned by directors and officers of Holdings subject to the reporting and other requirements of Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are not included in the computation. The registrants, however, have made no determination that such persons are "affiliates" within the meaning of Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

           The number of shares of Holdings' Common Stock, $0.001 par value, outstanding as of February 1, 2014 was 140,286,867.

           This Form 10-K is a combined annual report being filed separately by two Registrants: Select Medical Holdings Corporation and Select Medical Corporation. Unless the context indicates otherwise, any reference in this report to "Holdings" refers to Select Medical Holdings Corporation and any reference to "Select" refers to Select Medical Corporation, the wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Holdings. References to the "Company," "we," "us," and "our" refer collectively to Select Medical Holdings Corporation and Select Medical Corporation.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

           Listed hereunder are the documents, any portions of which are incorporated by reference and the Parts of this Form 10-K into which such portions are incorporated:

1.

The registrant's definitive proxy statement for use in connection with the 2014 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on or about April 29, 2014 to be filed within 120 days after the registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, portions of which are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K. Such definitive proxy statement, except for the parts therein which have been specifically incorporated by reference, should not be deemed "filed" for the purposes of this form 10-K.

Table of Contents

SELECT MEDICAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION
SELECT MEDICAL CORPORATION
ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2013

Table of Contents

PART I

Forward-Looking Statements

        This annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "may," "could," "would," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "target," "estimate," "project," "intend" and similar expressions. These statements include, among others, statements regarding our expected business outlook, anticipated financial and operating results, our business strategy and means to implement our strategy, our objectives, the amount and timing of capital expenditures, the likelihood of our success in expanding our business, financing plans, budgets, working capital needs and sources of liquidity.

        Forward-looking statements are only predictions and are not guarantees of performance. These statements are based on our management's beliefs and assumptions, which in turn are based on currently available information. Important assumptions relating to the forward-looking statements include, among others, assumptions regarding our services, the expansion of our services, competitive conditions and general economic conditions. These assumptions could prove inaccurate. Forward-looking statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

•

changes in government reimbursement for our services due to the implementation of healthcare reform legislation, deficit reduction measures, and/or new payment policies (including, for example, the expiration of the moratorium limiting the full application of the 25 Percent Rule that would reduce our Medicare payments for those patients admitted to a long term acute care hospital from a referring hospital in excess of an applicable percentage admissions threshold) may result in a reduction in net operating revenues, an increase in costs and a reduction in profitability;



•

the impact of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which establishes new payment limits for Medicare patients who do not meet specified criteria, may result in a reduction in net operating revenues and profitability of our long term acute care hospitals;



•

the failure of our specialty hospitals to maintain their Medicare certifications may cause our net operating revenues and profitability to decline;



•

the failure of our facilities operated as "hospitals within hospitals" to qualify as hospitals separate from their host hospitals may cause our net operating revenues and profitability to decline;



•

a government investigation or assertion that we have violated applicable regulations may result in sanctions or reputational harm and increased costs;



•

acquisitions or joint ventures may prove difficult or unsuccessful, use significant resources or expose us to unforeseen liabilities;



•

private third-party payors for our services may undertake future cost containment initiatives that limit our future net operating revenues and profitability;



•

the failure to maintain established relationships with the physicians in the areas we serve could reduce our net operating revenues and profitability;



•

shortages in qualified nurses or therapists could increase our operating costs significantly;



•

competition may limit our ability to grow and result in a decrease in our net operating revenues and profitability;



•

the loss of key members of our management team could significantly disrupt our operations;

1

Table of Contents

•

the effect of claims asserted against us could subject us to substantial uninsured liabilities; and



•

other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" of this annual report on Form 10-K.

        Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the SEC, we are under no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results or performance.

        Investors should also be aware that while we do, from time to time, communicate with securities analysts, it is against our policy to disclose to securities analysts any material non-public information or other confidential commercial information. Accordingly, stockholders should not assume that we agree with any statement or report issued by any securities analyst irrespective of the content of the statement or report. Thus, to the extent that reports issued by securities analysts contain any projections, forecasts or opinions, such reports are not the responsibility of the Company.

Item 1.    Business.

Overview

        We began operations in 1997, and we believe that we are one of the largest operators of both specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics in the United States based on number of facilities. As of December 31, 2013, we operated 108 long term acute care hospitals, or "LTCHs," and 15 inpatient rehabilitation facilities, or "IRFs," in 28 states, and 1,006 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 32 states and the District of Columbia. We also provide medical rehabilitation services on a contract basis at nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living and senior care centers, schools and worksites.

        We manage our company through two business segments, our specialty hospital segment and our outpatient rehabilitation segment. We had net operating revenues of $2,975.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2013. Of this total, we earned approximately 74% of our net operating revenues from our specialty hospital segment and approximately 26% from our outpatient rehabilitation segment. Our specialty hospital segment consists of hospitals designed to serve the needs of long term stay acute care patients and hospitals designed to serve patients who require intensive inpatient medical rehabilitation care. Our outpatient rehabilitation segment consists of clinics and contract therapy locations that provide physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation services. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Results of Operations for financial information for each of our segments for the past three fiscal years.

Specialty Hospitals

        We are a leading operator of specialty hospitals in the United States. As of December 31, 2013, we operated 123 facilities throughout 28 states, including 108 LTCHs, all of which are currently certified by the federal Medicare program as LTCHs, and 15 IRFs, all of which are currently certified by the federal Medicare program as IRFs. For the years ended December 31, 2011, December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2013, approximately 61%, 60% and 59%, respectively, of the net operating revenues of our specialty hospital segment came from Medicare reimbursement. As of December 31, 2013, we operated a total of 5,172 available licensed beds and employed approximately 21,000 people in our specialty hospital segment, consisting primarily of registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists.

        We operate the majority of our LTCHs as a hospital within a hospital, or an "HIH." An LTCH that operates as an HIH leases space from a general acute care hospital, or "host hospital," and operates as a separately licensed hospital within the host hospital, or on the same campus as the host hospital. In

2

Table of Contents

contrast, a free-standing LTCH does not operate on a host hospital campus. We operated 108 LTCHs at December 31, 2013, of which 107 are owned and one is managed. Of the 107 LTCHs we owned, 78 were operated as HIHs and 29 were operated as free-standing hospitals.

        Patients are typically admitted to our specialty hospitals from general acute care hospitals. These patients have specialized needs, and serious and often complex medical conditions such as respiratory failure, neuromuscular disorders, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes, non-healing wounds, cardiac disorders, renal disorders and cancer. Given their complex medical needs, these patients generally require a longer length of stay than patients in a general acute care hospital and benefit from being treated in a specialty hospital that is designed to meet their unique medical needs. The average length of stay for patients in our specialty hospitals was 27 days in our LTCHs and 15 days in our IRFs, for the year ended December 31, 2013.

        Below is a table that shows the distribution by medical condition (based on primary diagnosis) of patients in our hospitals for the year ended December 31, 2013:

        We believe that our services are attractive to healthcare payors who are seeking to provide the most cost-effective care to their enrollees. Additionally, we continually seek to increase our admissions by demonstrating our quality of care and by doing so expanding and improving our relationships with the physicians and general acute care hospitals in the markets where we operate. We maintain a strong focus on the provision of high-quality medical care within our facilities and believe that this operational focus is in part reflected by the accreditation of our specialty hospitals by The Joint Commission, the American Osteopathic Association ("AOA") and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities ("CARF"). As of December 31, 2013, all of the 123 specialty hospitals we operated were accredited by one or more of these accrediting organizations. The Joint Commission, the AOA and CARF are independent, not-for-profit organizations that establish standards related to the operation and management of healthcare facilities. Each of our accredited facilities must regularly demonstrate to a survey team conformance to the applicable standards.

        When a patient is referred to one of our hospitals by a physician, case manager, discharge planner, health maintenance organization or insurance company, we perform a clinical assessment of the patient to determine if the patient meets our criteria for admission. Based on the determinations reached in this clinical assessment, an admission decision is made.

        Upon admission, an interdisciplinary team reviews a new patient's condition. The interdisciplinary team is comprised of a number of clinicians and may include any or all of the following: an attending physician; a specialty nurse; a physical, occupational or speech therapist; a respiratory therapist; a dietician; a pharmacist; and a case manager. Upon completion of an initial evaluation by each member of the treatment team, an individualized treatment plan is established and implemented. The case manager coordinates all aspects of the patient's hospital stay and serves as a liaison with the insurance carrier's case management staff when appropriate. The case manager communicates progress, resource utilization, and treatment goals between the patient, the treatment team and the payor.

3

Table of Contents

        Each of our specialty hospitals has an interdisciplinary medical staff that is comprised of physicians that have completed the privileging and credentialing process required by that specialty hospital, and have been approved by the governing board of that specialty hospital. Physicians on the medical staff of our specialty hospitals are generally not directly employed by our specialty hospitals but instead have staff privileges at one or more hospitals. At each of our specialty hospitals, attending physicians conduct rounds on their patients on a daily basis and consulting physicians provide consulting services based on the medical needs of our patients. Our specialty hospitals also have on-call arrangements with physicians to ensure that a physician is available to care for our patients at all times. We staff our specialty hospitals with the number of physicians and other medical practitioners that we believe is appropriate to address the varying needs of our patients. When determining the appropriate composition of the medical staff of a specialty hospital, we consider (1) the size of the specialty hospital, (2) services provided by the specialty hospital, (3) if applicable, the size and capabilities of the medical staff of the general acute care hospital that hosts the HIH, and (4) if applicable, the proximity of an acute care hospital to the free-standing specialty hospital. The medical staff of each of our specialty hospitals meets the applicable requirements set forth by Medicare, the hospital's applicable accrediting organizations, and the state in which that specialty hospital is located.

        Each of our specialty hospitals has an onsite management team consisting of a chief executive officer, a chief nursing officer and a director of business development. These teams manage local strategy and day-to-day operations, including oversight of clinical care and treatment. They also assume primary responsibility for developing relationships with the general acute care providers and clinicians in the local areas we serve that refer patients to our specialty hospitals. We provide our hospitals with centralized accounting, treasury, payroll, legal, operational support, human resources, compliance, management information systems and billing and collection services. The centralization of these services improves efficiency and permits hospital staff to focus their time on patient care.

        For a description of government regulations and Medicare payments made to our LTCHs and IRFs see " — Government Regulations" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Regulatory Changes."

Specialty Hospital Strategy

        The key elements of our specialty hospital strategy are to:

        Focus on Specialized Inpatient Services.    We serve highly acute patients and patients with debilitating injuries and rehabilitation needs that cannot be adequately cared for in a less medically intensive environment, such as a skilled nursing facility. Generally, patients in our specialty hospitals require longer stays and can benefit from more specialized clinical care than patients treated in general acute care hospitals. Our patients' average length of stay in our specialty hospitals was 24 days for the year ended December 31, 2013.

        Provide High-Quality Care and Service.    We believe that our specialty hospitals serve a critical role in comprehensive healthcare delivery. Through our specialized treatment programs and staffing models, we treat patients with acute, complex and specialized medical needs who are typically referred to us by general acute care hospitals. Our specialized treatment programs focus on specific patient needs and medical conditions such as ventilator weaning programs, wound care protocols and rehabilitation programs for brain trauma and spinal cord injuries. Our responsive staffing models ensure that patients have the appropriate clinical resources over the course of their stay. We maintain quality assurance programs to support and monitor quality of care standards and to meet regulatory requirements and maintain Medicare certifications. We believe that we are recognized for providing quality care and service, as evidenced by our specialty hospitals' accreditations by The Joint Commission, the AOA and CARF. As of December 31, 2013, all of the 123 specialty hospitals we operated were accredited by either The Joint Commission or the AOA. Some of our IRFs have also received accreditation from CARF. See " — Government

4

Table of Contents

Regulations — Licensure — Accreditation." We also believe we develop brand loyalty in the local areas we serve by demonstrating our quality of care.

        Our treatment programs, which are continuously reassessed and updated, benefit patients because they give our clinicians access to the best practices and protocols that we have found to be most effective in treating various conditions such as respiratory failure, non-healing wounds, brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes and neuromuscular disorders. In addition, we combine or modify these programs to provide a treatment plan tailored to meet our patients' unique needs. We measure the outcomes and successes of our patients' recovery in order to provide the best possible patient care and service.

        The quality of the patient care we provide is continually monitored using several measures, including clinical outcomes data and analyses and patient satisfaction surveys. Quality measures from our hospitals are collected at our corporate offices and used to create monthly, quarterly and annual reports. In order to benchmark ourselves against other hospitals, we collect our clinical and patient satisfaction information and compare it to national standards and the results of other healthcare organizations. We report to the states in which our hospitals are located certain quality measures that are required to be reported under state laws. We also report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or "CMS", the quality data required to be reported by LTCHs and IRFs. See " — Government Regulations — Other Medicare Regulations — Medicare Quality Reporting."

        Reduce Operating Costs.    We continually seek to improve operating efficiency and reduce costs at our hospitals by standardizing operations and centralizing key administrative functions. These initiatives include:

•

centralizing administrative functions such as accounting, treasury, payroll, legal, operational support, human resources, compliance and billing and collection;



•

standardizing management information systems to aid in accounting, billing, collections and data capture and analysis; and



•

centralizing sourcing and contracting to receive discounted prices for pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and other commodities used in our operations.

        Increase Commercial Volume.    We have focused on continued expansion of our relationships with commercial insurers to increase our volume of patients with commercial insurance in our specialty hospitals. We believe that commercial payors seek to contract with our hospitals because we offer patients high-quality, cost-effective care at more attractive rates than general acute care hospitals. We also offer commercial enrollees customized treatment programs not typically offered in general acute care hospitals.

        Develop Specialty Hospitals.    Since our inception in 1997 we have internally developed 64 specialty hospitals. While there is currently no limitation on the development of new inpatient rehabilitation facilities, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 reinstates the moratorium on the establishment and classification of new LTCHs, LTCH satellite facilities and LTCH beds in existing LTCHs or satellite facilities beginning January 1, 2015 through September 30, 2017. We may, however, develop new LTCHs before the imposition of the moratorium on January 1, 2015.

        Pursue Joint Ventures with Large Health Care Systems.    By leveraging the experience of our senior management and development team, we believe that we are well positioned to expand our portfolio of joint ventured operations. When we identify joint venture opportunities, our development team conducts an extensive review of the area's referral patterns and commercial insurance rates to determine the general reimbursement trends and payor mix. Once discussions commence with a health care system, we refine the specific needs of a joint venture, which could include working capital, the construction of new space or the leasing and renovation of existing space. A joint venture typically consists of us and the health care system contributing certain post acute care businesses into a newly formed entity. We typically function as the manager and hold either a majority or minority ownership interest. We believe we improve the joint venture by bringing clinical expertise, adding clinical programs that attract commercial payors, and

5

Table of Contents

implementing our standardized resource management programs, which may increase the financial performance of the joint venture.

        Pursue Opportunistic Acquisitions.    In addition to our development and joint venture initiatives, we may grow our network of specialty hospitals through opportunistic acquisitions. When we acquire a hospital or a group of hospitals, a team of our professionals is responsible for formulating and executing an integration plan. We seek to improve financial performance at such facilities by adding clinical programs that attract commercial payors, centralizing administrative functions and implementing our standardized resource management programs.

Outpatient Rehabilitation

        We believe that we are the largest operator of outpatient rehabilitation clinics in the United States based on number of facilities, with 1,006 facilities throughout 32 states and the District of Columbia as of December 31, 2013. Typically, each of our clinics is located in a medical complex or retail location. We also provide medical rehabilitative services to residents and patients of nursing homes, hospitals, schools, assisted living and senior care centers and worksites. As of December 31, 2013, we provided rehabilitative services to approximately 499 contracted locations in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Our outpatient rehabilitation segment employed approximately 9,300 people as of December 31, 2013.

        In our clinics and through our contractual relationships, we provide physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation programs and services. We also provide certain specialized programs such as functional programs for work related injuries, hand therapy and athletic training services. The typical patient in one of our clinics suffers from musculoskeletal impairments that restrict his or her ability to perform normal activities of daily living. These impairments are often associated with accidents, sports injuries, work related injuries or post-operative orthopedic and other medical conditions. Our rehabilitation programs and services are designed to help these patients minimize physical and cognitive impairments and maximize functional ability. We also provide services designed to prevent short term disabilities from becoming chronic conditions. Our rehabilitation services are provided by our professionals including licensed physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists.

        Outpatient rehabilitation patients are generally referred or directed to our clinics by a physician, employer or health insurer who believes that a patient, employee or member can benefit from the level of therapy we provide in an outpatient setting. We believe that our services are attractive to healthcare payors who are seeking to provide a high-quality and cost-effective care to their enrollees.

        In our outpatient rehabilitation segment, approximately 90% of our net operating revenues come from commercial payors, including healthcare insurers, managed care organizations and workers' compensation programs, contract management services and private pay sources. The balance of our reimbursement is derived from Medicare and other government sponsored programs.

        For a description of government regulations and Medicare payments made to our outpatient rehabilitation services see " — Government Regulations" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Regulatory Changes."

Outpatient Rehabilitation Strategy

        The key elements of our outpatient rehabilitation strategy are to:

        Provide High-Quality Care and Service.    We are focused on providing a high level of service to our patients throughout their entire course of treatment. To measure satisfaction with our service we have developed surveys for both patients and physicians. Our clinics utilize the feedback from these surveys to continuously refine and improve service levels. We believe that by focusing on quality care and offering a high level of customer service we develop brand loyalty in the local areas we serve. This high quality of care and service allows us to strengthen our relationships with referring physicians, employers and health insurers and drive additional patient volume.

6

Table of Contents

        Increase Market Share.    We strive to establish a leading presence within the local areas we serve. To increase our presence, we seek to expand our services and programs and to open new clinics in our existing markets. This allows us to realize economies of scale, heightened brand loyalty and workforce continuity. We are focused on increasing our workers' compensation and commercial/managed care payor mix.

        Expand Rehabilitation Programs and Services.    Through our local clinical directors of operations and clinic managers within their service areas, we assess the healthcare needs of the areas we serve. Based on these assessments, we implement additional programs and services specifically targeted to meet demand in the local community. In designing these programs we benefit from the knowledge we gain through our national network of clinics. This knowledge is used to design programs that optimize treatment methods and measure changes in health status, clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

        Optimize the Profitability of our Payor Contracts.    We review payor contracts up for renewal and potential new payor contracts to optimize our profitability. Before we enter into a new contract with a commercial payor, we evaluate it with the aid of our contract management system. We assess potential profitability by evaluating past and projected patient volume, clinic capacity, and expense trends. We create a retention strategy for the top performing contracts and a renegotiation strategy for contracts that do not meet our defined criteria. We believe that our size and our strong reputation enable us to negotiate favorable outpatient contracts with commercial insurers.

        Maintain Strong Employee Relations.    We believe that the relationships between our employees and the referral sources in their communities are critical to our success. Our referral sources, such as physicians and healthcare case managers, send their patients to our clinics based on three factors: the quality of our care, the service we provide and their familiarity with our therapists. We seek to retain and motivate our therapists by implementing a performance- based bonus program, a defined career path with the ability to be promoted from within, timely communication on company developments and internal training programs. We also focus on empowering our employees by giving them a high degree of autonomy in determining local area strategy. We seek to identify therapists who are potential business leaders. This management approach reflects the unique nature of each local area in which we operate and the importance of encouraging our employees to assume responsibility for their clinic's performance.

        Pursue Opportunistic Acquisitions.    We may grow our network of outpatient rehabilitation facilities through opportunistic acquisitions. We believe our size and centralized infrastructure allow us to take advantage of operational efficiencies and increase margins at acquired facilities.

Other

        Other activities include our corporate services and certain other minority investments in other healthcare related businesses. These include investments in companies that provide specialized technology, services to healthcare entities and providers of complementary services.

Our Competitive Strengths

        We believe that the success of our business model is based on a number of competitive strengths, including our position as a leading operator in each of our business segments, proven financial performance and strong cash flow, significant scale, experience in completing and integrating acquisitions, ability to capitalize on consolidation opportunities and an experienced management team.

        Leading Operator in Distinct but Complementary Lines of Business.    We believe that we are a leading operator in each of our principal business segments, based on number of facilities in the United States. Our leadership position and reputation as a high-quality, cost-effective healthcare provider in each of our business segments allows us to attract patients and employees, aids us in our marketing efforts to payors and referral sources and helps us negotiate payor contracts. In our specialty hospital segment, we operated 108 LTCHs in 28 states and 15 IRFs in seven states at December 31, 2013. We derived approximately 74% of net operating revenues from our specialty hospital segment, for the year ended December 31, 2013. In

7

Table of Contents

our outpatient rehabilitation segment, we operated 1,006 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 32 states and the District of Columbia at December 31, 2013. We derived approximately 26% of net operating revenues from our outpatient rehabilitation segment, for the year ended December 31, 2013. With these leading positions in the areas we serve, we believe that we are well-positioned to benefit from the rising demand for medical services due to an aging population in the United States, which will drive growth across our business lines.

        Proven Financial Performance and Strong Cash Flow.    We have established a track record of improving the financial performance of our facilities due to our disciplined approach to revenue growth, expense management and an intense focus on free cash flow generation. This includes regular review of specific financial metrics of our business to determine trends in our revenue generation, expenses, billing and cash collection. Based on the ongoing analysis of such trends, we make adjustments to our operations to optimize our financial performance and cash flow.

        Significant Scale.    By building significant scale in each of our business segments, we have been able to leverage our operating costs by centralizing administrative functions at our corporate office. As a result, we have been able to minimize our general and administrative expense as a percentage of revenues.

        Experience in Successfully Completing and Integrating Acquisitions.    From our inception in 1997 through 2013, we completed seven significant acquisitions for approximately $1,104.8 million in aggregate consideration. We believe that we have improved the operating performance of these facilities over time by applying our standard operating practices and by realizing efficiencies from our centralized operations and management.

        Experience in Partnering with Large Health Care Systems.    Over the past several years we have partnered with large regional health care systems to provide post acute care services. We believe that we provide operating expertise through our experience in operating specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation services to these ventures and have improved and expanded the level of post acute care services provided in these communities, as well as the financial performance of these operations.

        Well-Positioned to Capitalize on Consolidation Opportunities.    We believe that we are well-positioned to capitalize on consolidation opportunities within each of our business segments and selectively augment our internal growth. We believe that each of our business segments is fragmented, with many of the nation's LTCHs, IRFs and outpatient rehabilitation facilities being operated by independent operators lacking national or broad regional scope. With our geographically diversified portfolio of facilities in the United States, we believe that our footprint provides us with a wide-ranging perspective on multiple potential acquisition opportunities.

        Experienced and Proven Management Team.    Prior to co-founding our company with our current Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, our Vice Chairman and Co-Founder founded and operated three other healthcare companies focused on inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services. In addition, our senior management team has extensive experience in the healthcare industry. In recent years, we have reorganized our operations to expand executive talent and ensure management continuity.

8

Table of Contents

Sources of Net Operating Revenues

        The following table presents the approximate percentages by source of net operating revenue received for healthcare services we provided for the periods indicated:

Government Sources

        Medicare is a federal program that provides medical insurance benefits to persons age 65 and over, some disabled persons, and persons with end-stage renal disease. Medicaid is a federal-state funded program, administered by the states, which provides medical benefits to individuals who are unable to afford healthcare. As of December 31, 2013, we operated 123 specialty hospitals, all of which are currently certified as Medicare providers. Our outpatient rehabilitation clinics regularly receive Medicare payments for their services. Additionally, many of our specialty hospitals participate in state Medicaid programs. Amounts received under the Medicare and Medicaid programs are generally less than the customary charges for the services provided. In recent years there have been significant changes made to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Since a significant portion of our revenues come from patients under the Medicare program, our ability to operate our business successfully in the future will depend in large measure on our ability to adapt to changes in the Medicare program. See " — Government Regulations — Overview of U.S. and State Government Reimbursements."

Non-Government Sources

        Our non-government sources of net operating revenue include insurance companies, workers' compensation programs, health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, other managed care companies and employers, as well as by patients directly. Patients are generally not responsible for any difference between customary charges for our services and amounts paid by Medicare and Medicaid programs, insurance companies, workers' compensation companies, health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations and other managed care companies, but are responsible for services not covered by these programs or plans, as well as for deductibles and co-insurance obligations of their coverage. The amount of these deductibles and co-insurance obligations has increased in recent years. Collection of amounts due from individuals is typically more difficult than collection of amounts due from government or commercial payors.

Employees

        As of December 31, 2013, we employed approximately 31,200 people throughout the United States. Approximately 21,100 of our employees are full time and the remaining approximately 10,100 are part-time employees. Specialty hospital employees totaled approximately 21,000 and outpatient, contract

9

Table of Contents

therapy and physical rehabilitation and occupational health employees totaled approximately 9,300. The remaining approximately 900 employees were in corporate management, administration and other support services primarily residing at our Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania headquarters.

Competition

        We compete on the basis of the quality of the patient services we provide, the results that we achieve for our patients and the prices we charge for our services. The primary competitive factors in the long term acute care and inpatient rehabilitation businesses include quality of services, charges for services and responsiveness to the needs of patients, families, payors and physicians. Other companies operate LTCHs and IRFs that compete with our hospitals, including large operators of similar facilities, such as Kindred Healthcare Inc. and HealthSouth Corporation and rehabilitation units and stepdown units operated by acute care hospitals in the markets we serve. The competitive position of any hospital is also affected by the ability of its management to negotiate contracts with purchasers of group healthcare services, including private employers, managed care companies, preferred provider organizations and health maintenance organizations. Such organizations attempt to obtain discounts from established hospital charges. The importance of obtaining contracts with preferred provider organizations, health maintenance organizations and other organizations which finance healthcare, and its effect on a hospital's competitive position, vary from area to area, depending on the number and strength of such organizations.

        Our outpatient rehabilitation clinics face competition principally from locally owned and managed outpatient rehabilitation clinics in the communities they serve and from selected national providers such as Physiotherapy Associates and U.S. Physical Therapy in selected local areas. Some of these clinics have longer operating histories and greater name recognition in these communities than our clinics, and they may have stronger relations with physicians in these communities on whom we rely for patient referrals.

Government Regulations

General

        The healthcare industry is required to comply with many complex laws and regulations at the federal, state and local government levels. These laws and regulations require that hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics meet various requirements, including those relating to the adequacy of medical care, equipment, personnel, operating policies and procedures, maintenance of adequate records, safeguarding protected health information, compliance with building codes and environmental protection and healthcare fraud and abuse. These laws and regulations are extremely complex and, in many instances, the industry does not have the benefit of significant regulatory or judicial interpretation. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could suffer civil or criminal penalties, including the loss of our licenses to operate and our ability to participate in the Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state healthcare programs.

Facility Licensure

        Our healthcare facilities are subject to state and local licensing regulations ranging from the adequacy of medical care to compliance with building codes and environmental protection laws. In order to assure continued compliance with these various regulations, governmental and other authorities periodically inspect our facilities, not only at scheduled intervals but also in response to complaints from patients and others. While our facilities intend to comply with existing licensing and Medicare certification requirements and accreditation standards, there can be no assurance that regulatory authorities will determine that all applicable requirements are fully met at any given time. A determination by an applicable regulatory authority that a facility is not in compliance with these requirements could lead to the imposition of corrective action, assessment of fines and penalties, or loss of licensure, Medicare certification or accreditation. These consequences could have an adverse effect on our company.

10

Table of Contents

        Some states still require us to get approval under certificate of need regulations when we create, acquire or expand our facilities or services, or alter the ownership of such facilities, whether directly or indirectly. The certificate of need regulations vary from state to state, and are subject to change and new interpretation. If we fail to show public need and obtain approval in these states for our new facilities or changes to the ownership structure of existing facilities, we may be subject to civil or even criminal penalties, lose our facility license or become ineligible for reimbursement.

Professional Licensure and Corporate Practice

        Healthcare professionals at our hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics are required to be individually licensed or certified under applicable state law. We take steps to ensure that our employees and agents possess all necessary licenses and certifications. Some states prohibit the "corporate practice of therapy" so that business corporations such as ours are restricted from practicing therapy through the direct employment of therapists. The laws relating to corporate practice vary from state to state and are not fully developed in each state in which we have outpatient clinics. We believe that each of our outpatient therapy clinics complies with any current corporate practice prohibition of the state in which it is located. For example, in those states that apply the corporate practice prohibition, we either contract to obtain therapy services from an entity permitted to employ therapists or we manage the physical therapy practice owned by licensed therapists through which the therapy services are provided. However, future interpretations of the corporate practice prohibition, enactment of new legislation or adoption of new regulations could cause us to have to restructure our business operations or close our clinics in a particular state. If new legislation, regulations or interpretations establish that our clinics do not comply with state corporate practice prohibition, we could be subject to civil, and perhaps criminal, penalties. Any such restructuring or penalties could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Certification

        In order to participate in the Medicare program and receive Medicare reimbursement, each facility must comply with the applicable regulations of the United States Department of Health and Human Services relating to, among other things, the type of facility, its equipment, its personnel and its standards of medical care, as well as compliance with all applicable state and local laws and regulations. As of December 31, 2013, all of the 123 specialty hospitals we operated were certified as Medicare providers. In addition, we provide the majority of our outpatient rehabilitation services through clinics certified by Medicare as rehabilitation agencies or "rehab agencies."

Accreditation

        Our specialty hospitals receive accreditation from The Joint Commission, the AOA, CARF and/or other healthcare accrediting organizations. As of December 31, 2013, all of the 123 specialty hospitals we operated were accredited by either The Joint Commission or the AOA. In addition, some of our IRFs have also applied for and received accreditation from CARF.

Overview of U.S. and State Government Reimbursements

Medicare Program in General

        The Medicare program reimburses healthcare providers for services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries, which are generally persons age 65 and older, those who are chronically disabled, and those suffering from end stage renal disease. The program is governed by the Social Security Act of 1965 and is administered primarily by the Department of Health and Human Services and CMS. Net operating revenues generated directly from the Medicare program represented approximately 48% of our consolidated net operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2011, 47% for the year ended December 31, 2012, and 46% for the year ended December 31, 2013.

11

Table of Contents

        The Medicare program reimburses various types of providers, including LTCHs, IRFs and outpatient rehabilitation providers, using different payment methodologies. The Medicare reimbursement systems specific to LTCHs, IRFs and outpatient rehabilitation providers, as described below, are different than the system applicable to general acute care hospitals. If any of our hospitals fail to comply with requirements for payment under Medicare reimbursement systems for LTCHs or IRFs, as applicable, that hospital will be paid under the system applicable to general acute care hospitals. For general acute care hospitals, Medicare payments for inpatient care are made under the inpatient prospective payment system, or "IPPS," under which a hospital receives a fixed payment amount per discharge (adjusted for area wage differences) using Medicare severity diagnosis-related groups, or "MS-DRGs." The general acute care hospital MS-DRG payment rate is based upon the national average cost of treating a Medicare patient's condition, based on severity levels of illness, in that type of facility. Although the average length of stay varies for each MS-DRG, the average stay of all Medicare patients in a general acute care hospital is substantially less than the average length of stay in LTCHs and IRFs. Thus, the prospective payment system for general acute care hospitals creates an economic incentive for those hospitals to discharge medically complex Medicare patients to a post-acute care setting as soon as clinically possible. Effective October 1, 2005, CMS expanded its post-acute care transfer policy under which general acute care hospitals are paid on a per diem basis rather than the full MS-DRG rate if a patient is discharged early to certain post-acute care settings, including LTCHs and IRFs. When a patient is discharged from selected MS-DRGs to, among other providers, an LTCH or IRF, the general acute care hospital may be reimbursed below the full MS-DRG payment if the patient's length of stay is less than the geometric mean length of stay for the MS-DRG.

Long Term Acute Care Hospital Medicare Reimbursement

        The Medicare payment system for LTCHs is based on a prospective payment system specifically applicable to LTCHs. The long term care hospital prospective payment system, or "LTCH-PPS," was established by CMS final regulations published on August 30, 2002, and applies to LTCHs for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2002. The policies and payment rates under LTCH-PPS are subject to annual updates and revisions. Under LTCH-PPS, each patient discharged from an LTCH is assigned to a distinct MS-LTC-DRG and an LTCH is generally paid a pre-determined fixed amount applicable to the assigned MS-LTC-DRG (adjusted for area wage differences), subject to exceptions for short stay and high cost outlier patients (described below). CMS assigns relative weights to each MS-LTC-DRG to reflect their relative use of medical care resources. The payment amount for each MS-LTC-DRG is intended to reflect the average cost of treating a Medicare patient assigned to that MS-LTC-DRG in an LTCH.

Standard Federal Rate

        Payment under the LTCH-PPS is dependent on determining the patient classification, that is, the assignment of the case to a particular MS-LTC-DRG, the weight of the MS-LTC-DRG and the standard federal payment rate. There is a single standard federal rate that encompasses both the inpatient operating costs, which includes a labor and non-labor component, and capital-related costs that CMS updates on an annual basis. LTCH-PPS also includes special payment policies that adjust the payments for some patients based on the patient's length of stay, the facility's costs, whether the patient was discharged and readmitted and other factors.

Patient Criteria

        The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, enacted December 26, 2013, establishes new payment limits for Medicare patients who do not meet specified criteria. Specifically, for Medicare patients discharged in cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2015, LTCHs will be reimbursed under LTCH-PPS only if, immediately preceding the patient's LTCH admission, the patient was discharged from a general acute care hospital paid under IPPS and the patient's stay included at least three days in an intensive care unit

12

Table of Contents

(ICU) or coronary care unit (CCU) or the patient is assigned to an MS-LTC-DRG for cases receiving at least 96 hours of ventilator services in the LTCH. In addition, to be paid under LTCH-PPS the patient's discharge from the LTCH may not include a principal diagnosis relating to psychiatric or rehabilitation services. For any Medicare patient who does not meet the new criteria, the LTCH will be paid a lower "site-neutral" payment rate, which will be the lower of (1) the IPPS comparable per-diem payment rate including any outlier payments, or (2) 100 percent of the estimated costs for services.

        The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 provides for a transition to the site-neutral payment rate for those patients not paid under LTCH-PPS. During the transition period (cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2017), a blended rate will be paid for Medicare patients not meeting the new criteria. The blended rate will comprise half the site-neutral payment rate and half the LTCH-PPS payment rate. For discharges in cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2017, only the site-neutral payment rate will apply for Medicare patients not meeting the new criteria.

        In addition, for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2019, qualifying discharges from an LTCH will continue to be paid at the LTCH-PPS payment rate, unless the number of discharges for which payment is made under the site-neutral payment rate is greater than 50% of the total number of discharges from the LTCH. If the number of discharges for which payment is made under the site-neutral payment rate is greater than 50%, then beginning in the next cost reporting period all discharges from the LTCH will be reimbursed at the site-neutral payment rate. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 requires CMS to establish a process for an LTCH subject to the site-neutral payment rate to re-qualify for payment under LTCH-PPS.

Short Stay Outlier Policy

        CMS established a different payment methodology for Medicare patients with a length of stay less than or equal to five-sixths of the geometric average length of stay for that particular MS-LTC-DRG, referred to as a short stay outlier, or "SSO." SSO cases are paid based on the lesser of (1) 100% of the average cost of the case, (2) 120% of the MS-LTC-DRG specific per diem amount multiplied by the patient's length of stay, (3) the full MS-LTC-DRG payment, or (4) a per diem rate derived from blending 120% of the MS-LTC-DRG specific per diem amount with a per diem rate based on the general acute care hospital IPPS.

        The SSO rule also has a category referred to as a "very short stay outlier", which applies to cases with a length of stay that is less than the average length of stay plus one standard deviation for the same MS-DRG under IPPS, referred to as the so-called "IPPS comparable threshold." The LTCH payment for very short stay outlier cases is equivalent to the general acute care hospital IPPS per diem rate. The Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, or the "SCHIP Extension Act," as amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or the "ARRA," and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or the "PPACA," prevented CMS from applying the very short stay outlier policy during the period from December 29, 2007 through December 28, 2012. The very short stay outlier policy again became applicable to discharges occurring on or after December 29, 2012.

High Cost Outliers

        Some cases are extraordinarily costly, producing losses that may be too large for hospitals to offset. Cases with unusually high costs, referred to as "high cost outliers," receive a payment adjustment to reflect the additional resources utilized. CMS provides an additional payment if the estimated costs for the patient exceed the adjusted MS-LTC-DRG payment plus a fixed-loss amount that is established in the annual payment rate update.

Interrupted stays

        An interrupted stay is defined as a case in which an LTCH patient, upon discharge, is admitted to a general acute care hospital, IRF or skilled nursing facility/swing-bed and then returns to the same LTCH

13

Table of Contents

within a specified period of time. If the length of stay at the receiving provider is equal to or less than the applicable fixed period of time, it is considered to be an interrupted stay case and the case is treated as a single discharge for the purposes of payment to the LTCH.

Freestanding, HIH and Satellite LTCHs

        LTCHs may be organized and operated as freestanding facilities or as HIHs. As its name suggests, a freestanding LTCH is not located on the campus of another hospital. For such purpose, "campus" means the physical area immediately adjacent to a hospital's main buildings, other areas and structures that are not strictly contiguous to a hospital's main buildings but are located within 250 yards of its main buildings, and any other areas determined, on an individual case basis by the applicable CMS regional office, to be part of a hospital's campus. Conversely, an HIH is an LTCH that is located on the campus of another hospital. An LTCH, whether freestanding or an HIH, that uses the same Medicare provider number of an affiliated "primary site" LTCH is known as a "satellite." Under Medicare policy, a satellite LTCH must be located within 35 miles of its primary site LTCH and be administered by such primary site LTCH. A primary site LTCH may have more than one satellite LTCH. CMS sometimes refers to a satellite LTCH that is freestanding as a "remote location."

Facility Certification Criteria

        The LTCH-PPS regulations define the criteria that must be met in order for a hospital to be certified as an LTCH. To be eligible for payment under the LTCH-PPS, a hospital must be primarily engaged in providing inpatient services to Medicare beneficiaries with medically complex conditions that require a long hospital stay. In addition, by definition, LTCHs must meet certain facility criteria, including (1) instituting a review process that screens patients for appropriateness of an admission and validates the patient criteria within 48 hours of each patient's admission, evaluates regularly their patients for continuation of care and assesses the available discharge options, (2) having active physician involvement with patient care that includes a physician available on-site daily and additional consulting physicians on call, and (3) having an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals to prepare and carry out an individualized treatment plan for each patient.

        An LTCH must have an average inpatient length of stay for Medicare patients (including both Medicare covered and non-covered days) of greater than 25 days. LTCHs that fail to exceed an average length of stay of 25 days during any cost reporting period may be paid under the general acute care hospital IPPS if not corrected within established timeframes. CMS, through its contractors, determines whether an LTCH has maintained an average length of stay of greater than 25 days during each annual cost reporting period. In the preamble to the final rule for fiscal year 2012, CMS clarified its policy on the calculation of the average length of stay by specifying that all data on all Medicare inpatient days, including Medicare Advantage days, must be included in the average length of stay calculation effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2012. Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, for discharges occurring in cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2015, LTCH cases paid at the site-neutral rate and Medicare Advantage cases are excluded from the LTCH average length of stay calculation.

        Prior to qualifying under the payment system applicable to LTCHs, a new LTCH initially receives payments under the general acute care hospital IPPS. The LTCH must continue to be paid under this system for a minimum of six months while meeting certain Medicare LTCH requirements, the most significant requirement being an average length of stay for Medicare patients (including both Medicare covered and non-covered days) greater than 25 days.

25 Percent Rule

        The "25 Percent Rule" is a downward payment adjustment that applies if the percentage of Medicare patients discharged from LTCHs who were admitted from an individual hospital (regardless of whether the

14

Table of Contents

LTCH or LTCH satellite is co-located with the referring hospital) exceeds the applicable percentage admissions threshold during a particular cost reporting period. Specifically, the payment rate for Medicare patients above the percentage admissions threshold are subject to a downward payment adjustment. For Medicare patients above the applicable percentage admissions threshold, the LTCH is reimbursed at a rate comparable to that under general acute care hospital IPPS, which is generally lower than LTCH-PPS rates. Cases that reach outlier status in the referring hospital do not count toward the admissions threshold and are paid under LTCH-PPS.

        The SCHIP Extension Act, as amended by the ARRA and the PPACA, has limited the full application of the 25 Percent Rule. However, the SCHIP Extension Act did not postpone the application of the percentage admissions threshold to those Medicare patients discharged from an LTCH HIH or satellite that were admitted from a non-co-located hospital. In addition, CMS adopted regulations providing for a one-year extension of relief from the full application of the 25 Percent Rule. As a result, full implementation of the Medicare percentage admissions thresholds did not go into effect until cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2013, except for certain LTCHs with cost reporting periods that begin between July 1, 2012 and through September 30, 2012. Specifically, those freestanding facilities, grandfathered HIHs and grandfathered satellites with cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2012 and through September 30, 2012 were subject to a modified 25 Percent Rule for discharges occurring in a three month period between July 1, 2012 and September 30, 2012.

        The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 further delays, and in some cases permanently suspends, the application of the 25 Percent Rule. The following table describes the types of LTCHs and the statutory and regulatory relief they have received from the payment adjustment for these discharges:

15

Table of Contents

        After the expiration of the regulatory relief, as described above, our LTCHs (whether freestanding, HIH or satellite) will be subject to a downward payment adjustment for any Medicare patients who were admitted from a co-located or a non-co-located hospital and that exceed the applicable percentage admissions threshold of all Medicare patients discharged from the LTCH during the cost reporting period. These regulatory changes will have an adverse financial impact on the net operating revenues and profitability of many of these hospitals for cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2016.

        The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 requires CMS to report to Congress before October 2016 on the need for any further extensions or modifications of the extensions of the 25 Percent Rule. In addition, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 requires the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or "MedPAC," to report to Congress by June 2019 on the need to continue applying the 25 Percent Rule, the effect of site-neutral payment on LTCHs, and recommendations on how to change the site-neutral payment policy.

Moratorium on New LTCHs, LTCH Satellite Facilities and LTCH beds

        The SCHIP Extension Act imposed a moratorium on the establishment and classification of new LTCHs, LTCH satellite facilities and LTCH beds in existing LTCHs or satellite facilities. The PPACA extended this moratorium by two years. The moratorium expired on December 28, 2012. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 reinstates the moratorium on the establishment and classification of new LTCHs, LTCH satellite facilities and LTCH beds in existing LTCHs or satellite facilities beginning January 1, 2015 through September 30, 2017.

16

Table of Contents

One-Time Budget Neutrality Adjustment

        Congress required that the LTC-DRG payment rates maintain budget neutrality during the first years of the prospective payment system with total expenditures that would have been made under the previous reasonable cost-based payment system. The LTCH-PPS regulations give CMS the ability to make a one-time adjustment to the standard federal rate to correct any "significant difference between actual payments and estimated payments for the first year" of LTCH-PPS. The SCHIP Extension Act precluded CMS from implementing the one-time prospective adjustment to the LTCH standard federal rate for a period of three years. The PPACA extended the stay on CMS's ability to adopt a one-time budget neutrality adjustment to LTCH-PPS through December 28, 2012. In the update to the Medicare policies and payment rates for fiscal year 2013, CMS adopted a one-time budget neutrality adjustment that results in a permanent negative adjustment of 3.75% to the LTCH base rate. CMS is implementing the adjustment over a three-year period by applying a factor of 0.98734 to the standard federal rate in fiscal years 2013, 2014 and 2015, except that the adjustment would not apply to payments for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2012 through December 28, 2012.

Annual Payment Rate Update

        Fiscal Year 2012.    On August 18, 2011, CMS published the policies and payment rates for LTCH-PPS for fiscal year 2012 (affecting discharges and cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012). The standard federal rate for fiscal year 2012 was $40,222, which was an increase from the fiscal year 2011 standard federal rate of $39,600. The update to the standard federal rate for fiscal year 2012 included a market basket increase of 2.9%, less a productivity adjustment of 1.0%, and less an additional market basket reduction of 0.1% as mandated by the PPACA. The final rule established a fixed-loss amount for high cost outlier cases for fiscal year 2012 of $17,931, which was a decrease from the fixed-loss amount in the 2011 fiscal year of $18,785.

        Fiscal Year 2013.    On August 1, 2012, CMS published the final rule updating the policies and payment rates for LTCH-PPS for fiscal year 2013 (affecting discharges and cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013). Two different standard federal rates apply during fiscal year 2013. The standard federal rate for discharges on or after October 1, 2012 and before December 29, 2012 is $40,916 and the standard federal rate for discharges on or after December 29, 2012 for the remainder of fiscal year 2013 is $40,398, both of which are an increase from the fiscal year 2012 standard federal rate of $40,222. The update to the standard federal rate for fiscal year 2013 through December 28, 2012 included a market basket increase of 2.6%, less a productivity adjustment of 0.7%, and less an additional market basket reduction of 0.1% as mandated by the PPACA. The standard federal rate for the period of December 29, 2012 through the remainder of fiscal 2013 is further reduced by a portion of the one-time budget neutrality adjustment of 1.266%, as discussed above. The final rule establishes a fixed-loss amount for high cost outlier cases for fiscal year 2013 of $15,408, which is a decrease from the fixed-loss amount in the 2012 fiscal year of $17,931.

        Fiscal Year 2014.    On August 19, 2013, CMS published the final rule updating the policies and payment rates for LTCH-PPS for fiscal year 2014 (affecting discharges and cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014). The standard federal rate was set at $40,607, an increase from the standard federal rate applicable during the period from December 29, 2012 through September 30, 2013 of $40,398. The update to the standard federal rate for fiscal year 2014 includes a market basket increase of 2.5%, less a productivity adjustment of 0.5%, less a reduction of 0.3% mandated by the PPACA, and less a budget neutrality adjustment of 1.266%, as discussed above. The fixed-loss amount for high cost outlier cases was set at $13,314, which is a decrease from the fixed-loss amount in the 2013 fiscal year of $15,408.

17

Table of Contents

Medicare Market Basket Adjustments

        The PPACA instituted a market basket payment adjustment to LTCHs. In fiscal years 2015 and 2016 the market basket update will be reduced by 0.2%. Finally, in fiscal years 2017 through 2019, the market basket update will be reduced by 0.75%. The PPACA specifically allows these market basket reductions to result in less than a 0% payment update and payment rates that are less than the prior year.

Medicare Reimbursement of Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Services

        IRFs are paid under a prospective payment system specifically applicable to this provider type, which is referred to as "IRF-PPS." Under the IRF-PPS, each patient discharged from an IRF is assigned to a case mix group, or "IRF-CMG," containing patients with similar clinical conditions that are expected to require similar amounts of resources. An IRF is generally paid a pre-determined fixed amount applicable to the assigned IRF-CMG (subject to applicable case adjustments related to length of stay and facility level adjustments for location and low income patients). The payment amount for each IRF-CMG is intended to reflect the average cost of treating a Medicare patient's condition in an IRF relative to patients with conditions described by other IRF-CMGs. The IRF-PPS also includes special payment policies that adjust the payments for some patients based on the patient's length of stay, the facility's costs, whether the patient was discharged and readmitted and other factors.

Facility Certification Criteria

        Our rehabilitation hospitals must meet certain facility criteria to be classified as an IRF by the Medicare program, including: (1) a provider agreement to participate as a hospital in Medicare, (2) a preadmission screening procedure, (3) ensuring that patients receive close medical supervision and furnish, through the use of qualified personnel, rehabilitation nursing, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, plus, as needed, speech therapy, social or psychological services, and orthotic and prosthetic services, (4) a full-time, qualified director of rehabilitation, (5) a plan of treatment for each inpatient that is established, reviewed, and revised as needed by a physician in consultation with other professional personnel who provide services to the patient, and (6) a coordinated multidisciplinary team approach in the rehabilitation of each inpatient, as documented by periodic clinical entries made in the patient's medical record to note the patient's status in relationship to goal attainment, and that team conferences are held at least every two weeks to determine the appropriateness of treatment. Failure to comply with any of the classification criteria may result in the denial of claims for payment or cause a hospital to lose its status as an IRF and be paid under the prospective payment system that applies to general acute care hospitals.

Patient Classification Criteria

        Under the IRF certification criteria that has been in effect since 1983, in order to qualify as an IRF, a hospital was required to satisfy certain operational criteria as well as demonstrate that, during its most recent 12-month cost reporting period, it served an inpatient population of whom at least 75% required intensive rehabilitation services for one or more of 10 conditions specified in the regulation. We refer to such 75% requirement as the "75 Percent Rule."

        New IRF certification criteria became effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2004 as a result of the major changes that CMS adopted on May 7, 2004 to the 75 Percent Rule that: (1) temporarily lowered the 75% compliance threshold (starting at 50% and phasing to 75% over four years), (2) modified and expanded from 10 to 13 the medical conditions used to determine whether a hospital qualifies as an IRF, (3) identified the conditions under which comorbidities can be used to verify compliance with the 75 Percent Rule, and (4) changed the timeframe used to determine compliance with the 75 Percent Rule from "the most recent 12-month cost reporting period" to "the most recent, consecutive, and appropriate 12-month period," with the result that a determination of non-compliance with the applicable compliance threshold will affect the facility's certification as an IRF for its cost reporting period that begins immediately after the 12-month review period.

18

Table of Contents

        Under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, enacted on February 8, 2006, Congress extended the phase-in period for the 75 Percent Rule by maintaining the compliance threshold at 60% (rather than increasing it to the scheduled 65%) during the 12-month period beginning on July 1, 2006. The compliance threshold was then to increase to 65% for cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2007 and again to 75% for cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2008. However, the SCHIP Extension Act included a permanent freeze in the 75 Percent Rule patient classification criteria compliance threshold at 60% (with comorbidities counting toward this threshold) and a payment freeze from April 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.

        Compliance with the patient classification criteria is demonstrated through either medical review or the "presumptive" method, in which a patient's diagnosis codes are compared to a "presumptive compliance" list. CMS has announced that it will remove a number of diagnosis codes from the presumptive compliance list. According to CMS, these conditions do not demonstrate the need for intensive inpatient rehabilitation services in the absence of additional facts that would have to be pulled from a patient's medical record. As a result, beginning on or after October 1, 2014, a number of diagnosis codes previously on the presumptive compliance list will be removed, including diagnosis codes in the following categories: non-specific diagnosis codes, arthritis diagnosis codes, unilateral upper extremity amputations diagnosis, some congenital anomalies diagnosis codes, other miscellaneous diagnosis codes.

Annual Payment Rate Update

        Fiscal Year 2012.    On August 5, 2011, CMS published the policies and payment rates for IRF-PPS for fiscal year 2012 (affecting discharges and cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012). The standard payment conversion factor for discharges during fiscal year 2012 was $14,076, which was an increase from the fiscal year 2011 standard payment conversion factor of $13,860. The update to the standard payment conversion factor for fiscal year 2012 included a market basket increase of 2.9%, less a productivity adjustment of 1.0%, and less an additional market basket reduction of 0.1% as mandated by the PPACA CMS decreased the outlier threshold amount for fiscal year 2012 to $10,660 from $11,410 established in the final rule for fiscal year 2011. In a notice published September 26, 2011, CMS corrected its calculation of the outlier threshold amount for fiscal year 2012 to $10,713.

        Fiscal Year 2013.    On July 30, 2012, CMS published the final rule updating policies and payment rates for IRF-PPS for fiscal year 2013 (affecting discharges and cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013). The standard payment conversion factor for discharges during fiscal year 2013 is $14,343, which is an increase from the fiscal year 2012 standard payment conversion factor of $14,076. The update to the standard payment conversion factor for fiscal year 2013 includes a market basket increase of 2.7%, less a productivity adjustment of 0.7%, less an additional reduction of 0.1% as mandated by the PPACA. CMS decreased the outlier threshold amount for fiscal year 2013 to $10,466 from $10,713 established in the final rule for fiscal year 2012.

        Fiscal Year 2014.    On August 6, 2013, CMS published the final rule updating policies and payment rates for IRF-PPS for fiscal year 2014 (affecting discharges and cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014). The standard payment conversion factor for discharges for fiscal year 2014 is $14,846, which is an increase from the fiscal year 2013 standard payment conversion factor of $14,343. The update to the standard payment conversion factor for fiscal year 2014 includes a market basket increase of 2.6%, less a productivity adjustment of 0.5%, less an additional reduction of 0.3% as mandated by the PPACA. CMS decreased the outlier threshold amount for fiscal year 2014 to $9,272 from $10,466 established in the final rule for fiscal year 2013.

Medicare Market Basket Adjustments

        The PPACA instituted a market basket payment adjustment for IRFs. For fiscal years 2015 and 2016, the reduction is 0.2%. For fiscal years 2017 through 2019, the reduction is 0.75%.

19

Table of Contents

Medicare Reimbursement of Outpatient Rehabilitation Services

        The Medicare program reimburses outpatient rehabilitation providers based on the Medicare physician fee schedule. The Medicare physician fee schedule rates are automatically updated annually based on a formula, called the sustainable growth rate, or "SGR," formula, contained in legislation. The SGR formula has resulted in automatic reductions in rates every year since 2002; however, for each year through March 31, 2014 CMS or Congress has taken action to prevent the SGR formula reductions. On December 10, 2013, CMS estimated a 20.1% reduction in the Medicare physician fee schedule payment rates for calendar year 2014 as a result of the SGR formula. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 blocks the 20.1% reduction for services provided through March 31, 2014. Reimbursement for outpatient rehabilitation services paid under the Medicare physician fee schedule will generally remain unchanged through March 31, 2014. Automatic reductions in the Medicare physician fee schedule payment rates will commence on April 1, 2014, unless Congress again takes legislative action to prevent the SGR formula reductions from going into effect. For the year ended December 31, 2013, we received approximately 9% of our outpatient rehabilitation net operating revenues from Medicare.

        In addition, MedPAC recommended that Congress direct CMS to collect data on provider service volume and work time to establish more accurate relative value unit payment rates and to identify and reduce overpriced fee schedule services. Similarly, the PPACA requires CMS to identify and review potentially misvalued codes and make appropriate adjustments to the relative values of those services identified as being misvalued.

Therapy Caps

        Beginning on January 1, 1999, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 subjected certain outpatient therapy providers reimbursed under the Medicare physician fee schedule to annual limits for therapy expenses. Effective January 1, 2014, the annual limit on outpatient therapy services is $1,920 for combined physical and speech language pathology services and $1,920 for occupational therapy services. The per beneficiary caps were $1,900 for calendar year 2013.

        The annual limits for therapy expenses historically did not apply to services furnished and billed by outpatient hospital departments. However, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 extended the annual limits on therapy expenses and manual medical review thresholds to services furnished in hospital outpatient department settings through March 31, 2014. The application of annual limits to hospital outpatient department settings will sunset on March 31, 2014 unless Congress extends it. We operated 1,006 outpatient rehabilitation clinics at December 31, 2013, of which 158 were provider-based outpatient rehabilitation clinics operated as departments of the inpatient rehabilitation hospitals we operated.

        In the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Congress implemented an exceptions process to the annual limit for therapy expenses. Under this process, a Medicare enrollee (or person acting on behalf of the Medicare enrollee) is able to request an exception from the therapy caps if the provision of therapy services was deemed to be medically necessary. Therapy cap exceptions have been available automatically for certain conditions and on a case-by-case basis upon submission of documentation of medical necessity. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 extends the exceptions process for outpatient therapy caps through March 31, 2014. Unless Congress extends the exceptions process, the therapy caps will apply to all outpatient therapy services beginning April 1, 2014, except those services furnished and billed by outpatient hospital departments.

        The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 made several changes to the exceptions process to the annual limit for therapy expenses. For any claim above the annual limit, the claim must contain a modifier indicating that the services are medically necessary and justified by appropriate documentation in the medical record. Effective October 1, 2012, all claims exceeding $3,700 are subject to a manual medical review process. The $3,700 threshold is applied separately to the combined physical therapy/speech therapy cap and the occupational therapy cap. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 extends

20

Table of Contents

through March 31, 2014 the requirement that Medicare perform manual medical review of therapy services when an exception is requested for cases in which the beneficiary has reached a specified dollar aggregate threshold. Effective October 1, 2012, all therapy claims, whether above or below the annual limit, must include the national provider identifier (NPI) of the physician responsible for certifying and periodically reviewing the plan of care.

        Several government agencies are expected to release reports on aspects of the Medicare payment system for therapy services. In the final 2011 Medicare physician fee schedule rule, CMS indicated the agency is evaluating alternative payment methodologies that would provide appropriate payment for medically necessary and effective therapy services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries based on patient needs rather than the current therapy caps. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 directed MedPAC to submit a report to Congress by June 15, 2013 making recommendations on how to reform the payment system to better reflect acuity, condition, and the therapy needs of the patient. The MedPAC report is to include an examination of private sector initiatives related to therapy benefits. On June 14, 2013, MedPAC released their mandated report to Congress and recommended reducing the therapy cap for physical therapy and speech language pathology services combined and the separate cap for occupational therapy to $1,270 in 2013; permanently including services delivered in hospital outpatient departments under therapy caps; implementing a manual review process for requests to exceed the therapy cap amount; and applying a multiple procedure payment reduction of 50% to the practice expense portion of the outpatient therapy services provided to the same patient on the same day. In addition, the Government Accountability Office, or "GAO," was directed to issue a report no later than May 1, 2013 regarding implementation of the manual medical review process instituted by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. On July 10, 2013, the GAO issued its report to Congress on CMS's implementation of the 2012 manual medical review process, and the number of claims subject to manual reviews and the outcomes of these reviews.

Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction

        CMS adopted a multiple procedure payment reduction for therapy services in the final update to the Medicare physician fee schedule for calendar year 2011. This multiple procedure payment reduction policy became effective January 1, 2011 and applies to all outpatient therapy services paid under Medicare Part B. Furthermore, the multiple procedure payment reduction policy applies across all therapy disciplines — occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology. Under the policy, the Medicare program pays 100% of the practice expense component of the therapy procedure or unit of service with the highest Relative Value Unit, and then reduces the payment for the practice expense component for the second and subsequent therapy procedures or units of service furnished during the same day for the same patient, regardless of whether those therapy services are furnished in separate sessions. In 2011 and 2012, the second and subsequent therapy service furnished during the same day for the same patient were reduced by 20% in office and other non-institutional settings and by 25% in institutional settings. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 increases the payment reduction to 50%, in either setting, effective April 1, 2013. Our outpatient rehabilitation therapy services are primarily offered in institutional settings and, as such, were subject to the applicable 25% payment reduction in the practice expense component for the second and subsequent therapy services furnished by us to the same patient on the same day until April 1, 2013 when the payment reduction was increased to 50%.

Other Requirements for Payment

        Historically, outpatient rehabilitation services have been subject to scrutiny by the Medicare program for, among other things, medical necessity for services, appropriate documentation for services, supervision of therapy aides and students and billing for single rather than group therapy when services are furnished to more than one patient. CMS has issued guidance to clarify that services performed by a student are not reimbursed even if provided under "line of sight" supervision of the therapist. Likewise, CMS has reiterated that Medicare does not pay for services provided by aides regardless of the level of supervision.

21

Table of Contents

CMS also has issued instructions that outpatient physical and occupational therapy services provided simultaneously to two or more individuals by a practitioner should be billed as group therapy services.

Budget Control Act of 2011

        The Budget Control Act of 2011, enacted on August 2, 2011, increased the federal debt ceiling in connection with deficit reductions over the next ten years. The Budget Control Act of 2011 requires automatic reductions in federal spending by approximately $1.2 trillion split evenly between domestic and defense spending. Payments to Medicare providers are subject to these automatic spending reductions, subject to a 2% cap. On April 1, 2013, a 2% reduction to Medicare payments was implemented.

Specialty Hospital Medicaid Reimbursement

        The Medicaid program is designed to provide medical assistance to individuals unable to afford care. The program is governed by the Social Security Act of 1965, funded jointly by each individual state and the federal government, and administered by state agencies. Medicaid payments are made under a number of different systems, which include cost based reimbursement, prospective payment systems or programs that negotiate payment levels with individual hospitals. In addition, Medicaid programs are subject to statutory and regulatory changes, administrative rulings, interpretations of policy by the state agencies and certain government funding limitations, all of which may increase or decrease the level of program payments to our hospitals. Net operating revenues generated directly from the Medicaid program represented approximately 5% of our specialty hospital net operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Workers' Compensation

        Workers' compensation is a state mandated, comprehensive insurance program that requires employers to fund or insure medical expenses, lost wages and other costs resulting from work related injuries and illnesses. Workers' compensation benefits and arrangements vary on a state-by-state basis and are often highly complex. In some states, payment for services covered by workers' compensation programs are subject to cost containment features, such as requirements that all workers' compensation injuries be treated through a managed care program, or the imposition of payment caps. In addition, these workers' compensation programs may impose requirements that affect the operations of our outpatient rehabilitation services. Net operating revenues generated directly from workers' compensation programs represented approximately 18% of our net operating revenue from outpatient rehabilitation services and 1% of our net operating revenue from our specialty hospitals for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Other Medicare Regulations

Medicare Quality Reporting

        The PPACA established quality reporting requirements for LTCHs and IRFs. These programs are mandatory. For fiscal year 2014 and each subsequent year, LTCHs and IRFs that do not submit the required quality data will be subject to a 2% reduction in their annual payment update. The reduction can result in payment rates less than the prior year. However, the reduction will not carry over into the subsequent fiscal years.

        The Physician Quality Reporting System, or "PQRS," is a CMS reporting program that uses a combination of incentive payments and payment reductions to promote reporting of quality information by "eligible professionals." Although physical therapists, occupational therapists and qualified speech-language therapists are generally able to participate in the PQRS program, therapy professionals for whose services we bill through our rehab agencies cannot participate because the Medicare claims processing systems currently cannot accommodate institutional providers such as rehab agencies. Eligible professionals, such as those of our therapy professionals for whose services we bill using their individual Medicare provider numbers, who do not satisfactorily report data on quality measures will be subject to a 2% reduction in their Medicare payment. Eligible professionals who satisfactorily report data on PQRS quality measures will earn a 0.5% incentive payment.

22

Table of Contents

Medicare Productivity Adjustment

        The PPACA implemented a separate annual productivity adjustment for the first time for hospital inpatient services beginning in fiscal year 2012 for LTCHs and IRFs. This provision applied a negative productivity adjustment to the market basket that is used to update the standard federal rate on an annual basis. The market basket does not currently account for increases in provider productivity that could reduce the actual cost of providing services (e.g., through new technology or fewer inputs). The productivity adjustment will equal the 10-year moving average of changes in the annual economy-wide private non-farm business multi-factor productivity. This is a statistic reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and updated in the spring of each year. While this adjustment will change each year, it is currently estimated that this adjustment to the market basket will be approximately minus 1.0% on average.

Hospital Wage Index

        As part of the methodology for determining prospective payments to LTCHs and IRFs, CMS adjusts the standard payment amounts for area differences in hospital wage levels by a factor reflecting the relative hospital wage level in the geographic area of the hospital compared to the national average hospital wage level. This adjustment factor is the hospital wage index. CMS currently defines hospital geographic areas (labor market areas) based on the definitions of Core-Based Statistical Areas established by the Office of Management and Budget. The PPACA calls for CMS to develop and present to Congress a comprehensive reform plan using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, or other data or methodologies, to calculate relative wages for each geographic area involved. In the preamble to the proposed rule for LTCH-PPS for fiscal year 2012, CMS solicited public comments on ways to redefine the geographic reclassification requirements to more accurately define labor markets. To date CMS has not presented a comprehensive reform plan to Congress.

Independent Payment Advisory Board

        The PPACA established an independent board called the Independent Payment Advisory Board that is authorized to develop and submit proposals to the President and Congress to reduce Medicare spending to meet specified targets. The Independent Payment Advisory Board is precluded from submitting proposals that reduce Medicare payments prior to December 31, 2019 for providers, including LTCHs and IRFs, scheduled to receive a reduction in their payment updates in addition to the Medicare productivity adjustment (discussed above). The Independent Payment Advisory Board's proposals would go into effect automatically unless Congress enacts alternative legislation to achieve the required savings (with certain exceptions). The PPACA authorized the Independent Payment Advisory Board to issue its first recommendations by January 2014 for implementation in 2015 if the Medicare per capita target growth rate is exceeded, but the CMS Office of the Actuary has determined that the Medicare spending target will not be triggered for 2015. To date, no Independent Payment Advisory Board members have been appointed, and there have been repeated legislative attempts to repeal the provision of the PPACA authorizing the establishment of the Independent Payment Advisory Board.

Physician-Owned Hospital Limitations

        CMS regulations include a number of hospital ownership and physician referral provisions, including certain obligations requiring physician-owned hospitals to disclose ownership or investment interests held by the referring physician or his or her immediate family members. In particular, physician-owned hospitals must furnish to patients, on request, a list of physicians or immediate family members who own or invest in the hospital. Moreover, a physician-owned hospital must require all physician owners or investors who are also active members of the hospital's medical staff to disclose in writing their ownership or investment interests in the hospital to all patients they refer to the hospital. CMS can terminate the Medicare provider agreement of a physician-owned hospital if it fails to comply with these disclosure provisions or with the requirement that a hospital disclose in writing to all patients whether there is a physician on-site at the hospital 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

23

Table of Contents

        Under the transparency and program integrity provisions of the PPACA, the exception to the federal self-referral law, or "Stark law," that permits physicians to refer patients to hospitals in which they have an ownership or investment interest has been dramatically curtailed. Only hospitals, including LTCHs and IRFs, with physician ownership and a provider agreement in place on December 31, 2010 are exempt from the general ban on self-referral. Existing physician-owned hospitals are prohibited from increasing the percentage of physician ownership or investment interests held in the hospital after March 23, 2010. In addition, physician-owned hospitals are prohibited from increasing the number of licensed beds after March 23, 2010, unless meeting specific exceptions related to the hospital's location and patient population. In order to retain their exemption from the general ban on self-referrals, our physician-owned hospitals are required to adopt specific measures relating to conflicts of interest, bona fide investments and patient safety. As of December 31, 2013, we operated 11 hospitals that are owned in-part by physicians.

Provider and Employee Screening

        The PPACA imposed new screening requirements on all Medicare providers, including LTCHs, IRFs and outpatient rehabilitation providers. The screening must include a licensure check and may include other procedures such as a criminal background check, fingerprinting, unscheduled and unannounced site visits, database checks, and other screening techniques CMS deems appropriate to prevent fraud, waste and abuse. Effective March 23, 2011, Medicare providers and suppliers submitting new enrollment applications or revalidating their existing enrollment status are required to pay a $500 application fee that is adjusted annually by the percentage change in the consumer price index. The PPACA also imposed new disclosure requirements and authorizes surety bonds for the enrollment of new providers and suppliers.

        In addition, the PPACA requires LTCHs to conduct national and state criminal background checks, including fingerprint checks of their employees and contractors who have (or may have) one-on-one contact with patients. Our LTCHs are prohibited from hiring or retaining workers with a history of patient or resident abuse.

Medicare Compliance Requirements and Penalties

        The PPACA included new compliance requirements and increases existing penalties for non-compliance with federal law and the Medicare conditions of participation. In addition, Medicare claims will be paid only if submitted within 12 months. Penalties for submitting false claims and for submitting false statements material to a false claim will be increased. The Secretary will be granted the authority to suspend payments to a provider pending an investigation of credible allegations of fraud. Further, the Recovery Audit Contractor program has been extended to Medicare Parts C and D and Medicaid.

Other Healthcare Regulations

        Medicare Recovery Audit Contractors.    The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 instructed CMS to contract with third-party organizations, known as Recovery Audit Contractors, or "RACs," to identify Medicare underpayments and overpayments, and to authorize RACs to recoup any overpayments. The compensation paid to each RAC is based on a percentage of overpayment recoveries identified by the RAC. CMS has selected and entered into contracts with four RACs, each of which has begun their audit activities in specific jurisdictions. RAC audits of our Medicare reimbursement may lead to assertions that we have been overpaid, require us to incur additional costs to respond to requests for records and pursue the reversal of payment denials, and ultimately require us to refund any amounts determined to have been overpaid. We cannot predict the impact of future RAC reviews on our results of operations or cash flows.

        Fraud and Abuse Enforcement.    Various federal and state laws prohibit the submission of false or fraudulent claims, including claims to obtain payment under Medicare, Medicaid and other government healthcare programs. Penalties for violation of these laws include civil and criminal fines, imprisonment and exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs. In recent years, federal and

24

Table of Contents

state government agencies have increased the level of enforcement resources and activities targeted at the healthcare industry. In addition, the federal False Claims Act and similar state statutes allow individuals to bring lawsuits on behalf of the government, in what are known as qui tam or "whistleblower" actions, alleging false or fraudulent Medicare or Medicaid claims or other violations of the statute. The use of these private enforcement actions against healthcare providers has increased dramatically in recent years, in part because the individual filing the initial complaint is entitled to share in a portion of any settlement or judgment. Revisions to the False Claims Act enacted in 2009 expanded significantly the scope of liability, provided for new investigative tools, and made it easier for whistleblowers to bring and maintain False Claims Act suits on behalf of the government. See "— Legal Proceedings."

        From time to time, various federal and state agencies, such as the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, or "OIG," issue a variety of pronouncements, including fraud alerts, the OIG's Annual Work Plan and other reports, identifying practices that may be subject to heightened scrutiny. These pronouncements can identify issues relating to LTCHs, IRFs or outpatient rehabilitation services or providers. For example, in the OIG's 2013 Work Plan, the OIG indicated that it would study appropriateness of admissions to IRFs, the level of therapy provided in IRFs and whether IRFs received reduced payments for claims with patient assessment instruments that were transmitted to CMS outside defined time limits. In addition, the OIG stated that it would study the extent to which Medicare made improper payments for interrupted stays in LTCH in 2011. The OIG stated in its 2014 Work Plan that it would study (1) readmission patterns in LTCHs to determine whether LTCHs are billing Medicare for higher paying new stays instead of interrupted stays and (2) the extent to which co-located LTCHs readmit patients from the providers with which they are co-located. According to the 2014 Work Plan, the OIG has identified vulnerabilities in CMS's ability to detect readmissions and appropriately pay the readmissions as interrupted stays instead of as higher paying new admissions. The OIG stated that it would determine the extent to which Medicare made improper payments for interrupted stays in LTCHs in 2011. In addition, the OIG intends to study the incidence of adverse and temporary harm events for Medicare beneficiaries receiving post-acute care in IRFs. We monitor government publications applicable to us to supplement and enhance our compliance efforts.

        We endeavor to conduct our operations in compliance with applicable laws, including healthcare fraud and abuse laws. If we identify any practices as being potentially contrary to applicable law, we will take appropriate action to address the matter, including, where appropriate, disclosure to the proper authorities, which may result in a voluntary refund of monies to Medicare, Medicaid or other governmental healthcare programs.

        Remuneration and Fraud Measures.    The federal anti-kickback statute prohibits some business practices and relationships under Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs. These practices include the payment, receipt, offer or solicitation of remuneration in connection with, to induce, or to arrange for, the referral of patients covered by a federal or state healthcare program. Violations of the anti-kickback law may be punished by a criminal fine of up to $50,000 or imprisonment for each violation, or both, civil monetary penalties of $50,000 and damages of up to three times the total amount of remuneration, and exclusion from participation in federal or state healthcare programs.

        The Stark Law prohibits referrals for designated health services by physicians under the Medicare and Medicaid programs to other healthcare providers in which the physicians have an ownership or compensation arrangement unless an exception applies. Sanctions for violating the Stark Law include civil monetary penalties of up to $15,000 per prohibited service provided, assessments equal to three times the dollar value of each such service provided and exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs and other federal and state healthcare programs. The statute also provides a penalty of up to $100,000 for a circumvention scheme. In addition, many states have adopted or may adopt similar anti-kickback or anti-self-referral statutes. Some of these statutes prohibit the payment or receipt of remuneration for the referral of patients, regardless of the source of the payment for the care. While we do not believe our arrangements are in violation of these prohibitions, we cannot assure you that governmental officials

25

Table of Contents

charged with the responsibility for enforcing the provisions of these prohibitions will not assert that one or more of our arrangements are in violation of the provisions of such laws and regulations.

        Provider-Based Status.    The designation "provider-based" refers to circumstances in which a subordinate facility (e.g., a separately certified Medicare provider, a department of a provider or a satellite facility) is treated as part of a provider for Medicare payment purposes. In these cases, the services of the subordinate facility are included on the "main" provider's cost report and overhead costs of the main provider can be allocated to the subordinate facility, to the extent that they are shared. As of December 31, 2013, we operated 17 specialty hospitals that were treated as provider-based satellites of certain of our other facilities, 158 of the outpatient rehabilitation clinics we operated were provider-based and are operated as departments of the IRFs we operated, and we provide rehabilitation management and staffing services to hospital rehabilitation departments that may be treated as provider-based. These facilities are required to satisfy certain operational standards in order to retain their provider-based status.

        Health Information Practices.    The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or "HIPAA," mandates the adoption of standards for the exchange of electronic health information in an effort to encourage overall administrative simplification and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare industry, while maintaining the privacy and security of health information. Among the standards that the Department of Health and Human Services has adopted or will adopt pursuant to HIPAA are standards for electronic transactions and code sets, unique identifiers for providers (referred to as National Provider Identifier), employers, health plans and individuals, security and electronic signatures, privacy and enforcement. If we fail to comply with the HIPAA requirements, we could be subject to criminal penalties and civil sanctions. The privacy, security and enforcement provisions of HIPAA were enhanced by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or "HITECH," which was included in the ARRA. Among other things, HITECH establishes security breach notification requirements, allows enforcement of HIPAA by state attorneys general, and increases penalties for HIPAA violations.

        The Department of Health and Human Services has adopted standards in three areas in which we are required to comply that affect our operations.

        Standards relating to the privacy of individually identifiable health information govern our use and disclosure of protected health information and require us to impose those rules, by contract, on any business associate to whom such information is disclosed.

        Standards relating to electronic transactions and code sets require the use of uniform standards for common healthcare transactions, including healthcare claims information, plan eligibility, referral certification and authorization, claims status, plan enrollment and disenrollment, payment and remittance advice, plan premium payments and coordination of benefits.

        Standards for the security of electronic health information require us to implement various administrative, physical and technical safeguards to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of electronic protected health information.

        We maintain a HIPAA committee that is charged with evaluating and monitoring our compliance with HIPAA. The HIPAA committee monitors regulations promulgated under HIPAA as they have been adopted to date and as additional standards and modifications are adopted. Although health information standards have had a significant effect on the manner in which we handle health data and communicate with payors, the cost of our compliance has not had a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We cannot estimate the cost of compliance with standards that have not been issued or finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services.

        In addition to HIPAA, there are numerous federal and state laws and regulations addressing patient and consumer privacy concerns, including unauthorized access or theft of personal information. State statutes and regulations vary from state to state. Lawsuits, including class actions and action by state attorneys general, directed at companies that have experienced a privacy or security breach also can occur.

26

Table of Contents

Although our policies and procedures are aimed at complying with privacy and security requirements and minimizing the risks of any breach of privacy or security, there can be no assurance that a breach of privacy or security will not occur. If there is a breach, we may be subject to various penalties and damages and may be required to incur costs to mitigate the impact of the breach on affected individuals.

Compliance Program

Our Compliance Program

        In 1998, we voluntarily adopted our code of conduct. The code is reviewed and amended as necessary and is the basis for our company-wide compliance program. Our written code of conduct provides guidelines for principles and regulatory rules that are applicable to our patient care and business activities. These guidelines are implemented by a compliance officer, a compliance and internal audit committee, and employee education and training. We also have established a reporting system, auditing and monitoring programs, and a disciplinary system as a means for enforcing the code's policies.

Compliance and Internal Audit Committee

        Our compliance and internal audit committee is made up of members of our senior management and in-house counsel. The compliance and internal audit committee meets on a quarterly basis and reviews the activities, reports and operation of our compliance program. In addition, the HIPAA committee provides reports to the compliance and internal audit committee. The vice president of compliance and audit services meets with the compliance and internal audit committee on a quarterly basis to provide an overview of the activities and operation of our compliance program.

Operating Our Compliance Program

        We focus on integrating compliance responsibilities with operational functions. We recognize that our compliance with applicable laws and regulations depends upon individual employee actions as well as company operations. As a result, we have adopted an operations team approach to compliance. Our corporate executives, with the assistance of corporate experts, designed the programs of the compliance and internal audit committee. We utilize facility leaders for employee-level implementation of our code of conduct. This approach is intended to reinforce our company-wide commitment to operate in accordance with the laws and regulations that govern our business.

Compliance Issue Reporting

        In order to facilitate our employees' ability to report known, suspected or potential violations of our code of conduct, we have developed a system of reporting. This reporting, anonymous or attributable, may be accomplished through our toll-free compliance hotline, compliance e-mail address or our compliance post office box. The compliance officer and the compliance and internal audit committee are responsible for reviewing and investigating each compliance incident in accordance with the compliance and audit services department's investigation policy.

Compliance Monitoring and Auditing / Comprehensive Training and Education

        Monitoring reports and the results of compliance for each of our business segments are reported to the compliance and internal audit committee on a quarterly basis. We train and educate our employees regarding the code of conduct, as well as the legal and regulatory requirements relevant to each employee's work environment. New and current employees are required to acknowledge and certify that the employee has read, understood and has agreed to abide by the code of conduct. Additionally, all employees are required to re-certify compliance with the code on an annual basis.

27

Table of Contents

Policies and Procedures Reflecting Compliance Focus Areas

        We review our policies and procedures for our compliance program from time to time in order to improve operations and to ensure compliance with requirements of standards, laws and regulations and to reflect the ongoing compliance focus areas which have been identified by the compliance and internal audit committee.

Internal Audit

        In addition to and in support of the efforts of our compliance and audit department, during 2001 we established an internal audit function. The vice president of compliance and audit services manages the combined compliance and audit department and meets with the audit and compliance committee of the board of directors on a quarterly basis to discuss audit results and provide an overview of the activities and operation of our compliance program.

Available Information

        We are subject to the information and periodic reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and, in accordance therewith, file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Such periodic reports, proxy statements and other information is available for inspection and copying at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549, or may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. In addition, the SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

        Our website address is www.selectmedicalholdings.com and can be used to access free of charge, through the investor relations section, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with or furnish it to the SEC. The information on our website is not incorporated as a part of this annual report.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

        The following table sets forth the names, ages and titles, as well as a brief account of the business experience, of each person who was an executive officer of the Company as of January 1, 2014:

28

Table of Contents

        Robert A. Ortenzio was appointed Executive Chairman and Co-Founder effective January 1, 2014. Mr. Ortenzio served as our Chief Executive Officer from January 1, 2005 until December 31, 2013 and. Mr. Ortenzio served as our President and Chief Executive Officer from September 2001 to January 1, 2005. Mr. Ortenzio also served as our President and Chief Operating Officer from February 1997 to September 2001. Mr. Ortenzio co-founded the Company and has served as a director since February 1997. He was an Executive Vice President and a director of Horizon/CMS Healthcare Corporation from July 1995 until July 1996. In 1986, Mr. Ortenzio co-founded Continental Medical Systems, Inc., and served in a number of different capacities, including as a Senior Vice President from February 1986 until April 1988, as Chief Operating Officer from April 1988 until July 1995, as President from May 1989 until August 1996 and as Chief Executive Officer from July 1995 until August 1996. Before co-founding Continental Medical Systems, Inc., he was a Vice President of Rehab Hospital Services Corporation. Until August 17, 2010, Mr. Ortenzio served on the board of directors of Odyssey Healthcare, Inc., a hospice healthcare company. Mr. Ortenzio also served on the board of directors of US Oncology, Inc. until December 30, 2010. Mr. Ortenzio is the son of Rocco A. Ortenzio, our Vice Chairman and Co-Founder.

        Rocco A. Ortenzio was appointed Vice Chairman and Co-Founder effective January 1, 2014. Mr. Ortenzio served as our Executive Chairman from September 2001 until December 2013. From February 1997 to September 2001, Mr. Ortenzio served as our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Ortenzio co-founded the Company and has served as a director since February 1997. In 1986, he co-founded Continental Medical Systems, Inc., and served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until July 1995. In 1979, Mr. Ortenzio founded Rehab Hospital Services Corporation, and served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until June 1986. In 1969, Mr. Ortenzio founded Rehab Corporation and served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until 1974. Mr. Ortenzio is the father of Robert A. Ortenzio, our Executive Chairman and Co-Founder.

        David S. Chernow has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since January 1, 2014. Mr. Chernow has served as our President and previously held various additional executive officer titles since September 2010. Mr. Chernow served as a director of the Company from January 2002 until February 2005 and from August 2005 until September 2010. From May 2007 to February 2010, Mr. Chernow served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Oncure Medical Corp., one of the largest providers of free-standing radiation oncology care in the United States. From July 2001 to June 2007, Mr. Chernow served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of JA Worldwide, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education of young people about business (formerly, Junior Achievement, Inc.). From 1999 to 2001, he was the President of the Physician Services Group at US Oncology, Inc. Mr. Chernow co-founded American Oncology Resources in 1992 and served as its Chief Development Officer until the time of the merger with Physician Reliance Network, Inc., which created US Oncology, Inc. in 1999.

        Martin F. Jackson has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since February 2007. He served as our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from May 1999 to February 2007. Mr. Jackson previously served as a Managing Director in the Health Care Investment Banking Group for CIBC Oppenheimer from January 1997 to May 1999. Prior to that time, he served as Senior Vice President, Health Care Finance with McDonald & Company Securities, Inc. from January 1994 to January 1997. Prior to 1994, Mr. Jackson held senior financial positions with Van Kampen Merritt, Touche Ross, Honeywell and L'Nard Associates.

        John A. Saich has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer since December 15, 2010. He served as our Senior Vice President, Human Resources from February 2007 to December 2010. He served as our Vice President, Human Resources from November 1999 to January 2007. He joined the Company as Director, Human Resources and HRIS in February 1998. Previously, Mr. Saich served as Director of Benefits and Human Resources for Integrated Health Services in 1997 and as Director of Human Resources for Continental Medical Systems, Inc. from August 1993 to January 1997.

29

Table of Contents

        James J. Talalai has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since January 2012. Prior to this, he served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer from February 2007 to December 2011. He served as our Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer from August 2001 to February 2007. He joined the Company in May 1997 and served in various leadership capacities within Information Services. Before joining us, Mr. Talalai was Director of Information Technology for Horizon/ CMS Healthcare Corporation from 1995 to 1997. He also served as Data Center Manager at Continental Medical Systems, Inc. in the mid-1990s.

        Michael E. Tarvin has served as our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since February 2007. He served as our Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from November 1999 to February 2007. He served as our Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from February 1997 to November 1999. He was Vice President — Senior Counsel of Continental Medical Systems from February 1993 until February 1997. Prior to that time, he was Associate Counsel of Continental Medical Systems from March 1992. Mr. Tarvin was an associate at the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP from September 1985 until March 1992.

        Scott A. Romberger has served as our Senior Vice President and Controller since February 2007. He served as our Vice President and Controller from February 1997 to February 2007. In addition, he has served as our Chief Accounting Officer since December 2000. Prior to February 1997, he was Vice President — Controller of Continental Medical Systems from January 1991 until January 1997. Prior to that time, he served as Acting Corporate Controller and Assistant Controller of Continental Medical Systems from June 1990 and December 1988, respectively. Mr. Romberger is a certified public accountant and was employed by a national accounting firm from April 1985 until December 1988.

        Robert G. Breighner, Jr.    has served as our Vice President, Compliance and Audit Services since August 2003. He served as our Director of Internal Audit from November 2001 to August 2003. Previously, Mr. Breighner was Director of Internal Audit for Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. from June 1997 until November 2001. Mr. Breighner held other positions with Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. from May 1991 until June 1997.

Item 1A.    Risk Factors.

        In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this Form 10-K, the following are important factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of us.

If there are changes in the rates or methods of government reimbursements for our services, our net operating revenues and profitability could decline.

        Approximately 48% of our net operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2011, 47% of our net operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2012 and 46% of our net operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013 came from the highly regulated federal Medicare program.

        In recent years, through legislative and regulatory actions, the federal government has made substantial changes to various payment systems under the Medicare program. President Obama signed into law comprehensive reforms to the healthcare system, including changes to the methods for, and amounts of, Medicare reimbursement. Additional reforms or other changes to these payment systems, including modifications to the conditions on qualification for payment, bundling payments to cover both acute and post-acute care or the imposition of enrollment limitations on new providers, may be proposed or could be adopted, either by Congress or CMS. If revised regulations are adopted, the availability, methods and rates of Medicare reimbursements for services of the type furnished at our facilities could change. Some of these changes and proposed changes could adversely affect our business strategy, operations and financial results. In addition, there can be no assurance that any increases in Medicare reimbursement rates established by CMS will fully reflect increases in our operating costs.

30

Table of Contents

        The Budget Control Act of 2011, enacted on August 2, 2011, increased the federal debt ceiling in connection with deficit reductions over the next ten years. The Budget Control Act of 2011 requires automatic reductions in federal spending by approximately $1.2 trillion split evenly between domestic and defense spending. Payments to Medicare providers are subject to these automatic spending reductions, subject to a 2% cap. On April 1, 2013 a 2% reduction to Medicare payments was implemented. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 extended the automatic spending reductions through 2023. For the year ended December 31, 2013, this reduction has reduced our net operating revenues and income from operations by approximately $24.0 million.

We conduct business in a heavily regulated industry, and changes in regulations, new interpretations of existing regulations or violations of regulations may result in increased costs or sanctions that reduce our net operating revenues and profitability.

        The healthcare industry is subject to extensive federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to (1) facility and professional licensure, including certificates of need, (2) conduct of operations, including financial relationships among healthcare providers, Medicare fraud and abuse and physician self-referral, (3) addition of facilities and services and enrollment of newly developed facilities in the Medicare program, (4) payment for services and (5) safeguarding protected health information.

        Both federal and state regulatory agencies inspect, survey and audit our facilities to review our compliance with these laws and regulations. While our facilities intend to comply with existing licensing, Medicare certification requirements and accreditation standards, there can be no assurance that these regulatory authorities will determine that all applicable requirements are fully met at any given time. A determination by any of these regulatory authorities that a facility is not in compliance with these requirements could lead to the imposition of requirements that the facility takes corrective action, assessment of fines and penalties, or loss of licensure, Medicare certification or accreditation. These consequences could have an adverse effect on our company.

        In addition, there have been heightened coordinated civil and criminal enforcement efforts by both federal and state government agencies relating to the healthcare industry. The ongoing investigations relate to, among other things, various referral practices, cost reporting, billing practices, physician ownership and joint ventures involving hospitals. In the future, different interpretations or enforcement of these laws and regulations could subject us to allegations of impropriety or illegality or could require us to make changes in our facilities, equipment, personnel, services and capital expenditure programs. These changes may increase our operating expenses and reduce our operating revenues. If we fail to comply with these extensive laws and government regulations, we could become ineligible to receive government program reimbursement, suffer civil or criminal penalties or be required to make significant changes to our operations. In addition, we could be forced to expend considerable resources responding to any related investigation or other enforcement action.

Full implementation of the Medicare 25 Percent Rule applicable to LTCHs will have an adverse effect on our future net operating revenues and profitability.

        Under the 25 Percent Rule, the Medicare payment rate for LTCHs is subject to a downward payment adjustment if the percentage of Medicare patients discharged from an LTCH who were admitted from an individual referring hospital exceeds an applicable percentage admissions threshold during a particular cost reporting period. Cases admitted to an LTCH in excess of the applicable percentage admissions threshold are reimbursed at a rate comparable to that under IPPS. IPPS rates are generally lower than LTCH-PPS rates. Cases that reach outlier status in the discharging hospital do not count toward the limit and are paid under LTCH-PPS.

        LTCHs that are operated as HIHs or as HIH "satellites," are subject to payment reductions for those Medicare patients admitted from their host hospitals in excess of the applicable percentage admissions threshold and from other referring hospitals in excess of the applicable percentage admissions threshold.

31

Table of Contents

LTCHs that are operated as freestanding facilities are subject to a payment reduction for those Medicare patients admitted from other referring hospitals in excess of the applicable admissions threshold. Grandfathered HIHs are excluded from the Medicare percentage admissions threshold regulations.

        The SCHIP Extension Act, as amended by the ARRA, the PPACA and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, postponed the full application of the percentage admissions threshold for specific classifications of LTCHs. Full implementation of the Medicare percentage admissions thresholds under the 25 Percent Rule will not go into effect until cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2016 or October 1, 2016, depending on the specific classification of LTCH. See "Business — Government Regulations — Overview of U.S. and State Government Reimbursements — Long Term Acute Care Hospital Medicare Reimbursement — 25 Percent Rule."

        As of December 31, 2013, we owned 78 HIHs and satellite facilities of which two are grandfathered HIHs and are excluded from the percentage threshold regulations. Of the remaining 76 HIHs and satellite facilities subject to a percentage admissions threshold for admissions from their host hospital; four of these HIHs and satellite facilities were subject to a maximum 25% Medicare percentage admissions threshold for admissions from their host hospital, three HIHs and satellite facilities are co-located with an MSA dominant hospital and were subject to a Medicare percentage admissions threshold of no more than 50%, nor less than 25%, 18 of these HIHs and satellite facilities were co-located with a MSA dominant hospital or single urban hospital and were subject to a Medicare percentage admissions threshold of no more than 75%, 48 of these HIHs and satellite facilities were subject to a maximum 50% Medicare admissions threshold, and three of these HIHs and satellite facilities were located in a rural area and were subject to a maximum 75% Medicare percentage admissions threshold. As of December 31, 2013, we owned 2 grandfathered HIHs, all of which are excluded from the percentage admissions threshold regulations. As of December 31, 2013, we owned 29 free-standing LTCHs, which are not subject to the Medicare percentage admissions threshold until cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2017.

        The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 requires CMS to report to Congress before October 2016 on the need for any further extensions or modifications of the extensions of the 25 Percent Rule. In addition, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 requires MedPAC, an independent federal body that advises Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program, to report to Congress by June 2019 on the need to continue applying the 25 Percent Rule, the effect of site-neutral payment on LTCHs and recommendations on how to change the site-neutral payment policy.

        Because these rules are complex and are based on the volume of Medicare admissions from other referring hospitals as a percent of our overall Medicare admissions, we cannot predict with any certainty the impact on our future net operating revenues and profitability of compliance with these regulations. We expect many of our LTCHs will experience an adverse financial impact when full implementation of the Medicare percentage admissions thresholds goes into effect. Our LTCHs have cost reporting periods that commence on various dates throughout the calendar year. Therefore, the application of the lower percentage admissions thresholds will be staggered and we would not realize the full impact of lower percentage admissions thresholds until 2017.

Expiration of the moratorium imposed on the payment adjustment for very short-stay cases in our LTCHs has reduced and will continue to reduce our future net operating revenues and profitability.

        On May 1, 2007, CMS published a new provision that changed the payment methodology for Medicare patients with a length of stay that is less than the IPPS comparable threshold. Beginning with discharges on or after July 1, 2007, for these very short-stay cases, the rule lowered the LTCH payment to a rate based on the general acute care hospital IPPS per diem. SSO cases with covered lengths of stay that exceed the IPPS comparable threshold would continue to be paid under the existing SSO payment policy. The SCHIP Extension Act and PPACA prevented CMS from applying this change to SSO policy for a period of five years through December 28, 2012. The implementation of the payment methodology for very

32

Table of Contents

short-stay outliers discharged after December 29, 2012 has reduced and will continue to reduce our future net operating revenues and profitability.

If our LTCHs fail to maintain their certifications as LTCHs or if our facilities operated as HIHs fail to qualify as hospitals separate from their host hospitals, our net operating revenues and profitability may decline.

        As of December 31, 2013, we operated 108 LTCHs, all of which are currently certified by Medicare as LTCHs. LTCHs must meet certain conditions of participation to enroll in, and seek payment from, the Medicare program as an LTCH, including, among other things, maintaining an average length of stay for Medicare patients in excess of 25 days. An LTCH that fails to maintain this average length of stay for Medicare patients in excess of 25 days during a single cost reporting period is generally allowed an opportunity to show that it meets the length of stay criteria during the subsequent cost reporting period. If the LTCH can show that it meets the length of stay criteria during this cure period, it will continue to be paid under the LTCH-PPS. If the LTCH again fails to meet the average length of stay criteria during the cure period, it will be paid under the general acute care inpatient prospective payment system at rates generally lower than the rates under the LTCH-PPS.

        Similarly, our HIHs must meet conditions of participation in the Medicare program, which include additional criteria establishing separateness from the hospital with which the HIH shares space. If our LTCHs or HIHs fail to meet or maintain the standards for certification as LTCHs, they will receive payment under the general acute care hospitals IPPS which is generally lower than payment under the system applicable to LTCHs. Payments at rates applicable to general acute care hospitals would result in our LTCHs receiving significantly less Medicare reimbursement than they currently receive for their patient services.

Implementation of additional patient or facility criteria for LTCHs that limit the population of patients eligible for our hospitals' services or change the basis on which we are paid could adversely affect our net operating revenue and profitability.

        The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 establishes new payment limits for Medicare patients who do not meet specified criteria. Specifically, for Medicare patients discharged in cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2015, LTCHs will be reimbursed under LTCH-PPS only if, immediately preceding the patient's LTCH admission, the patient was discharged from a general acute care hospital paid under IPPS and the patient's stay included at least three days in an intensive care unit (ICU) or coronary care unit (CCU) or the patient is assigned to an MS-LTC-DRG for cases receiving at least 96 hours of ventilator services in the LTCH. In addition, to be paid under LTCH-PPS the patient's discharge from the LTCH may not include a principal diagnosis relating to psychiatric or rehabilitation services. For any Medicare patient who does not meet the new criteria, the LTCH will be paid a "site-neutral" payment rate, which will be the lower of (1) the IPPS comparable per-diem payment rate including any outlier payments, or (2) 100 percent of the estimated costs for services. For cost reporting periods beginning in fiscal year 2020, payment for all discharges from an LTCH may be subject to the site-neutral payment limitation unless the number of discharges for which payment is made under the LTCH-PPS payment rate is greater than 50% of the total number of discharges for the LTCH. The application of the new site-neutral payment rates under LTCH-PPS may reduce our operating revenues.

        CMS requested public comments in May 2013 on adoption of a payment adjustment based on whether a particular case qualifies as chronically critically ill/medically complex ("CCI/MC"). CMS indicated that it was considering a change to the LTCH-PPS payment policies that would limit full LTCH-PPS payment to those patients meeting the definition of CCI/MC while they were in an IPPS hospital inpatient setting and subsequently directly admitted to an LTCH. Payment for non-CCI/MC patients would be made at an "IPPS comparable amount," that is, an amount comparable to what would have been paid under the IPPS calculated as a per diem rate with total payments capped at the full IPPS MS-DRG payment rate.

33

Table of Contents

        It is unclear how the adoption of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 will impact regulatory or legislative proposals to change the LTCH-PPS payment policies. We cannot predict whether Congress or CMS will adopt additional patient-level criteria in the future or, if adopted, how such criteria would affect our LTCHs. Implementation of additional patient or facility criteria that may limit the population of patients eligible for our LTCHs' services or change the basis on which we are paid could adversely affect our net operating revenues and profitability. See "Business — Government Regulations — Overview of U.S. and State Government Reimbursements — Long Term Acute Care Hospital Medicare Reimbursement."

Decreases in Medicare reimbursement rates received by our outpatient rehabilitation clinics, implementation of annual caps, and payment reductions applied to the second and subsequent therapy services may reduce our future net operating revenues and profitability.

        Our outpatient rehabilitation clinics receive payments from the Medicare program under a fee schedule. The Medicare physician fee schedule rates are automatically updated annually based on the SGR formula, contained in legislation. On December 10, 2013, CMS estimated a 20.1% reduction in the Medicare physician fee schedule payment rates for calendar year 2014 as a result of the SGR formula. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 blocks the 20.1% cut and replaces it with a 0.5% increase for services provided through March 31, 2014. If no further legislation is passed by Congress and signed by the President, the SGR formula will likely reduce our Medicare outpatient rehabilitation payment rates beginning April 1, 2014.

        Congress has established annual caps that limit the amount that can be paid (including deductible and coinsurance amounts) for outpatient therapy services rendered to any Medicare beneficiary. As directed by Congress in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, CMS implemented an exception process for therapy expenses incurred in 2006. Under this process, a Medicare enrollee (or person acting on behalf of the Medicare enrollee) was able to request an exception from the therapy caps if the provision of therapy services was deemed to be medically necessary. Therapy cap exceptions were available automatically for certain conditions and on a case-by-case basis upon submission of documentation of medical necessity. The exception process has been extended by Congress several times. Most recently, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 extended the exceptions process through March 31, 2014. The exception process will expire on April 1, 2014 unless further extended by Congress. There can be no assurance that Congress will extend it further. To date, the implementation of the therapy caps has not had a material adverse effect on our business. However, if the exception process is not renewed, our future net operating revenues and profitability may decline.

        CMS adopted a multiple procedure payment reduction for therapy services in the final update to the Medicare physician fee schedule for calendar year 2011. The policy became effective January 1, 2011 and applies to all outpatient therapy services paid under Medicare Part B — occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology. Under the policy, the Medicare program pays 100% of the practice expense component of the therapy procedure or unit of service with the highest Relative Value Unit, and then reduces the payment for the practice expense component for the second and subsequent therapy procedures or units of service furnished during the same day for the same patient, regardless of whether those therapy services are furnished in separate sessions. In 2011 and 2012 the second and subsequent therapy service furnished during the same day for the same patient was reduced by 20% in office and other non-institutional settings and by 25% in institutional settings. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 increased the payment reduction to 50% effective April 1, 2013. Our outpatient rehabilitation therapy services are primarily offered in institutional settings and, as such, were subject to the applicable 25% payment reduction in the practice expense component for the second and subsequent therapy services furnished by us to the same patient on the same day until April 1, 2013 when the payment reduction increased to 50%. See "Business — Government Regulations."

34

Table of Contents

Regulations limiting the diagnosis codes on the presumptive compliance list could adversely affect our net operating revenue and profitability.

        As of December 31, 2013, we operated 15 IRFs, all of which are currently certified by Medicare as IRFs. IRFs must meet certain conditions of participation to enroll in, and seek payment from, the Medicare program as an IRF. Among other things, at least 60 percent of the IRF's total inpatient population must require treatment for one or more of 13 conditions specified by regulation. This requirement is commonly referred to as the "60 percent rule." Compliance with the 60 percent rule is demonstrated through a two step process. The first step is the "presumptive" method, in which patient diagnosis codes are compared to a "presumptive compliance" list. IRFs that fail to demonstrate compliance with the 60 percent rule using this presumptive test may demonstrate compliance through a second step involving an audit of the facility's medical records to assess compliance. Beginning on October 1, 2014, CMS removed a number of diagnosis codes previously on the presumptive compliance list. If an IRF does not demonstrate compliance with the 60 percent rule by either the presumptive method or through a review of medical records, then the facility's classification as an IRF may be terminated at the start of its next cost reporting period causing the facility to be paid as a general acute care hospital under IPPS. By removing diagnosis codes from the presumptive compliance list our facilities may be required to demonstrate compliance with the 60 percent rule through medical record reviews. If our IRFs fail to demonstrate compliance with the 60 percent rule through either method and are classified as general acute care hospitals, our net operating revenue and profitability may be adversely affected.

Our facilities are subject to extensive federal and state laws and regulations relating to the privacy of individually identifiable information.

        HIPAA required the United States Department of Health and Human Services to adopt standards to protect the privacy and security of individually identifiable health-related information. The department released final regulations containing privacy standards in December 2000 and published revisions to the final regulations in August 2002. The privacy regulations extensively regulate the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health-related information. The regulations also provide patients with significant new rights related to understanding and controlling how their health information is used or disclosed. The security regulations require healthcare providers to implement administrative, physical and technical practices to protect the security of individually identifiable health information that is maintained or transmitted electronically. HITECH, which was signed into law in February of 2009, enhanced the privacy, security and enforcement provisions of HIPAA by, among other things establishing security breach notification requirements, allowing enforcement of HIPAA by state attorneys general, and increasing penalties for HIPAA violations. Violations of HIPAA or HITECH could result in civil or criminal penalties.

        In addition to HIPAA, there are numerous federal and state laws and regulations addressing patient and consumer privacy concerns, including unauthorized access or theft of personal information. State statutes and regulations vary from state to state. Lawsuits, including class actions and action by state attorneys general, directed at companies that have experienced a privacy or security breach also can occur.

        We have developed a comprehensive set of policies and procedures in our efforts to comply with HIPAA and other privacy laws. Our compliance officer, privacy officer and information security officer are responsible for implementing and monitoring compliance with our privacy and security policies and procedures at our facilities. We believe that the cost of our compliance with HIPAA and other federal and state privacy laws will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, there can be no assurance that a breach of privacy or security will not occur. If there is a breach, we may be subject to various penalties and damages and may be required to incur costs to mitigate the impact of the breach on affected individuals.

35

Table of Contents

As a result of increased post-payment reviews of claims we submit to Medicare for our services, we may incur additional costs and may be required to repay amounts already paid to us.

        We are subject to regular post-payment inquiries, investigations and audits of the claims we submit to Medicare for payment for our services. These post-payment reviews are increasing as a result of new government cost-containment initiatives, including enhanced medical necessity reviews for Medicare patients admitted to LTCHs, and audits of Medicare claims under the Recovery Audit Contractor program. These additional post-payment reviews may require us to incur additional costs to respond to requests for records and to pursue the reversal of payment denials, and ultimately may require us to refund amounts paid to us by Medicare that are determined to have been overpaid.

We may be adversely affected by negative publicity which can result in increased governmental and regulatory scrutiny and possibly adverse regulatory changes.

        Negative press coverage can result in increased governmental and regulatory scrutiny and possibly adverse regulatory changes. Adverse publicity and increased governmental scrutiny can have a negative impact on our reputation with referral sources and patients and on the morale and performance of our employees, both of which could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations.

Future acquisitions may use significant resources, may be unsuccessful and could expose us to unforeseen liabilities.

        As part of our growth strategy, we may pursue acquisitions of specialty hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation clinics and other related healthcare facilities and services. These acquisitions may involve significant cash expenditures, debt incurrence, additional operating losses and expenses and compliance risks that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

        We may not be able to successfully integrate acquired businesses into ours, and therefore we may not be able to realize the intended benefits from an acquisition. If we fail to successfully integrate acquisitions, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. Acquisitions could result in difficulties integrating acquired operations, technologies and personnel into our business. Such difficulties may divert significant financial, operational and managerial resources from our existing operations and make it more difficult to achieve our operating and strategic objectives. We may fail to retain employees or patients acquired through acquisitions, which may negatively impact the integration efforts. Acquisitions could also have a negative impact on our results of operations if it is subsequently determined that goodwill or other acquired intangible assets are impaired, thus resulting in an impairment charge in a future period.

        In addition, acquisitions involve risks that the acquired businesses will not perform in accordance with expectations; that we may become liable for unforeseen financial or business liabilities of the acquired businesses, including liabilities for failure to comply with healthcare regulations; that the expected synergies associated with acquisitions will not be achieved; and that business judgments concerning the value, strengths and weaknesses of businesses acquired will prove incorrect, which could have an material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Future joint ventures may use significant resources, may be unsuccessful and could expose us to unforeseen liabilities.

        As part of our growth strategy, we may partner with large health care systems to provide post acute care services. These joint ventures may involve significant cash expenditures, debt incurrence, additional operating losses and expenses, and compliance risks that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

        A joint venture involves the combining of corporate cultures and mission. As a result, we may not be able to successfully operate a joint venture, and therefore we may not be able to realize the intended

36

Table of Contents

benefits. If we fail to successfully execute a joint venture relationship, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. A new joint venture could result in difficulties in combining operations, technologies and personnel. Such difficulties may divert significant financial, operational and managerial resources from our existing operations and make it more difficult to achieve our operating and strategic objectives. We may fail to retain employees or patients as a result of the integration efforts.

        A joint venture is operated through a board of directors that contains representatives of Select and other parties to the joint venture. We may not control the board or some actions of the board may require supermajority votes. As a result, the joint venture may elect certain actions that could have adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations.

Future cost containment initiatives undertaken by private third-party payors may limit our future net operating revenues and profitability.

        Initiatives undertaken by major insurers and managed care companies to contain healthcare costs affect the profitability of our specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics. These payors attempt to control healthcare costs by contracting with hospitals and other healthcare providers to obtain services on a discounted basis. We believe that this trend may continue and may limit reimbursements for healthcare services. If insurers or managed care companies from whom we receive substantial payments reduce the amounts they pay for services, our profit margins may decline, or we may lose patients if we choose not to renew our contracts with these insurers at lower rates.

If we fail to maintain established relationships with the physicians in the areas we serve, our net operating revenues may decrease.

        Our success is partially dependent upon the admissions and referral practices of the physicians in the communities our hospitals and our outpatient rehabilitation clinics serve, and our ability to maintain good relations with these physicians. Physicians referring patients to our hospitals and clinics are generally not our employees and, in many of the local areas that we serve, most physicians have admitting privileges at other hospitals and are free to refer their patients to other providers. If we are unable to successfully cultivate and maintain strong relationships with these physicians, our hospitals' admissions and clinics' businesses may decrease, and our net operating revenues may decline.

Changes in federal or state law limiting or prohibiting certain physician referrals may preclude physicians from investing in our hospitals or referring to hospitals in which they already own an interest.

        The Stark Law prohibits a physician who has a financial relationship with an entity from referring his or her Medicare or Medicaid patients to that entity for certain designated health services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital services. Under the transparency and program integrity provisions of the PPACA, the exception to the Stark Law that previously permitted physicians to refer patients to hospitals in which they have an ownership or investment interest has been dramatically curtailed. Only hospitals, including LTCHs and IRFs, with physician ownership and a provider agreement in place on December 31, 2010 are exempt from the general ban on self-referral. Existing physician- owned hospitals are prohibited from increasing the percentage of physician ownership or investment interests held in the hospital after March 23, 2010. In addition, physician-owned hospitals are prohibited from increasing the number of licensed beds after March 23, 2010, unless meeting specific exceptions related to the hospital's location and patient population. In order to retain their exemption from the general ban on self-referrals, our physician- owned hospitals are required to adopt specific measures relating to conflicts of interest, bona fide investments and patient safety. Furthermore, initiatives are underway in some states to restrict physician referrals to physician-owned hospitals. Currently, 11 of our consolidating hospitals have physicians as minority owners. The aggregate net operating revenue of these 11 hospitals was $194.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2013, or approximately 6.5% of our consolidated net operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013. The range of physician minority ownership of these 11 hospitals was 2.1% to

37

Table of Contents

49.0% as of the year ended December 31, 2013. There can be no assurance that new legislation or regulation prohibiting or limiting physician referrals to physician-owned hospitals will not be successfully enacted in the future. If such federal or state laws are adopted, among other outcomes, physicians who have invested in our hospitals could be precluded from referring to, investing in or continuing to be physician owners of a hospital. In addition, expansion of our physician-owned hospitals may be limited, and the revenues, profitability and overall financial performance of our hospitals may be negatively affected.

We could experience significant increases to our operating costs due to shortages of healthcare professionals or union activity.

        Our specialty hospitals are highly dependent on nurses, and our outpatient rehabilitation division is highly dependent on therapists, for patient care. The market for qualified healthcare professionals is highly competitive. We have sometimes experienced difficulties in attracting and retaining qualified healthcare personnel. We cannot assure you we will be able to attract and retain qualified healthcare professionals in the future. Additionally, the cost of attracting and retaining qualified healthcare personnel may be higher than we anticipate, and as a result, our profitability could decline.

        In addition, U.S. healthcare providers are continuing to see an increase in the amount of union activity. Though we cannot predict the degree to which we will be affected by future union activity, there are continuing legislative proposals that could result in increased union activity. We could experience an increase in labor and other costs from such union activity.

Competition may limit our ability to acquire hospitals and clinics and adversely affect our growth.

        We have historically faced limited competition in acquiring specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics, but we may face heightened competition in the future. Our competitors may acquire or seek to acquire many of the hospitals and clinics that would be suitable acquisition candidates for us. This increased competition could hamper our ability to acquire companies, or such increased competition may cause us to pay a higher price than we would otherwise pay in a less competitive environment. Increased competition from both strategic and financial buyers could limit our ability to grow by acquisitions or make our cost of acquisitions higher and therefore decrease our profitability.

If we fail to compete effectively with other hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers in the local areas we serve, our net operating revenues and profitability may decline.

        The healthcare business is highly competitive, and we compete with other hospitals, rehabilitation clinics and other healthcare providers for patients. If we are unable to compete effectively in the specialty hospital and outpatient rehabilitation businesses, our net operating revenues and profitability may decline. Many of our specialty hospitals operate in geographic areas where we compete with at least one other hospital that provides similar services. Our outpatient rehabilitation clinics face competition from a variety of local and national outpatient rehabilitation providers. Other outpatient rehabilitation clinics in local areas we serve may have greater name recognition and longer operating histories than our clinics. The managers of these clinics may also have stronger relationships with physicians in their communities, which could give them a competitive advantage for patient referrals.

Our business operations could be significantly disrupted if we lose key members of our management team.

        Our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our senior officers and other key employees, and our ability to retain and motivate these individuals. We currently have employment agreements in place with four executive officers and change in control agreements and/or non-competition agreements with several other officers. Many of these individuals also have significant equity ownership in our company. We do not maintain any key life insurance policies for any of our employees. The loss of the services of any of these individuals could disrupt significant aspects of our

38

Table of Contents

business, could prevent us from successfully executing our business strategy and could have a material adverse affect on our results of operations.

Significant legal actions could subject us to substantial uninsured liabilities.

        Physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers have become subject to an increasing number of legal actions alleging malpractice, product liability or related legal theories. Many of these actions involve large claims and significant defense costs. We are also subject to lawsuits under federal and state whistleblower statutes designed to combat fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry. These whistleblower lawsuits are not covered by insurance and can involve significant monetary damages and award bounties to private plaintiffs who successfully bring the suits. See "Legal Proceedings" and Note 15 in our audited consolidated financial statements.

        We currently maintain professional malpractice liability insurance and general liability insurance coverages under a combination of policies with a total annual aggregate limit of $30.0 million. Our insurance for the professional liability coverage is written on a "claims-made" basis and our commercial general liability coverage is maintained on an "occurrence" basis. These coverages apply after a self-insured retention of $2.0 million per medical incident for professional liability claims and $2.0 million per occurrence for general liability claims. We review our insurance program annually and may make adjustments to the amount of insurance coverage and self-insured retentions in future years. In addition, our insurance coverage does not generally cover punitive damages and may not cover all claims against us. See "Business — Government Regulations — Other Healthcare Regulations."

Concentration of ownership among our existing executives, directors and principal stockholders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

        Welsh Carson beneficially owns approximately 20.5% of Holdings' outstanding common stock as of February 1, 2014. Our executives, directors and principal stockholders, including Welsh Carson, beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately 37.5% of Holdings' outstanding common stock as of February 1, 2014. As a result, these stockholders have significant control over our management and policies and are able to exercise influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, amendment of our certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions. The directors elected by these stockholders are able to make decisions affecting our capital structure, including decisions to issue additional capital stock, implement stock repurchase programs and incur indebtedness. This influence may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers, delaying or preventing changes in control or changes in management, or limiting the ability of our other stockholders to approve transactions that they may deem to be in their best interest.

Our substantial indebtedness may limit the amount of cash flow available to invest in the ongoing needs of our business.

        We have a substantial amount of indebtedness. As of December 31, 2013, we had approximately $1,445.3 million of total indebtedness. For the years ended December 31, 2011, December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2013, we paid cash interest of $107.5 million, $80.7 million and $89.1 million, respectively, on our indebtedness.

        Our indebtedness could have important consequences to you. For example, it:

•

requires us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our indebtedness, reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, development activity, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;



•

increases our vulnerability to adverse general economic or industry conditions;



•

limits our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business or the industries in which we operate;

39

Table of Contents

•

makes us more vulnerable to increases in interest rates, as borrowings under our senior secured credit facilities are at variable rates;



•

limits our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital or other purposes; and



•

places us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less indebtedness.

        See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources."

Our senior secured credit facilities require Select to comply with certain financial covenants, the default of which may result in the acceleration of certain of our indebtedness.

        The senior secured credit facilities require Select to maintain a leverage ratio (based upon the ratio of indebtedness to consolidated EBITDA as defined in the agreement), which is tested quarterly and becomes more restrictive over time. The senior secured credit facilities also prohibit Select from making capital expenditures in excess of $125.0 million in any fiscal year (subject to a 50% carry-over provision). Failure to comply with these covenants would result in an event of default under the senior secured credit facilities and, absent a waiver or an amendment from the lenders, preclude Select from making further borrowings under the revolving credit facility and permit the lenders to accelerate all outstanding borrowings under the senior secured credit facilities.

        As of December 31, 2013, Select was required to maintain its leverage ratio (its ratio of total indebtedness to consolidated EBITDA for the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters) at less than 4.50 to 1.00. For the four quarters ended December 31, 2013, Select's leverage ratio was 3.91 to 1.00.

        While Select has never defaulted on compliance with any of these financial covenants, its ability to comply with these ratios in the future may be affected by events beyond its control. Inability to comply with the required financial covenants could result in a default under our senior secured credit facilities. In the event of any default under our senior secured credit facilities, the lenders under our senior secured credit facilities could elect to terminate borrowing commitments and declare all borrowings outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest and other fees, to be immediately due and payable.

Despite our substantial level of indebtedness, we and our subsidiaries may be able to incur additional indebtedness. This could further exacerbate the risks described above.

        We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur additional indebtedness in the future. Although our senior secured credit facilities contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and the indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. Also, these restrictions do not prevent us or our subsidiaries from incurring obligations that do not constitute indebtedness. As of December 31, 2013, we had $237.7 million of revolving loan availability under our senior secured credit facilities (after giving effect to $42.3 million of outstanding letters of credit). In addition, to the extent new debt is added to our and our subsidiaries' current debt levels, the substantial leverage risks described above would increase.

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments.

        None.

Item 2.    Properties.

        We currently lease most of our facilities, including clinics, offices, specialty hospitals and our corporate headquarters. We own 24 of our specialty hospitals.

        We lease all but one of our outpatient rehabilitation clinics and related offices, which, as of December 31, 2013 included 884 leased outpatient rehabilitation clinics throughout the United States. We

40

Table of Contents

also lease the majority of our LTCH facilities except for the facilities described above. As of December 31, 2013, in our specialty hospitals we had 75 HIH leases and 16 free-standing building leases.

        We lease our corporate headquarters from companies owned by a related party affiliated with us through common ownership or management. Our corporate headquarters is approximately 150,000 square feet and is located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. We lease several other administrative spaces related to administrative and operational support functions. As of December 31, 2013, this was comprised 11 locations throughout the United States with approximately 50,000 square feet in total.

41

Table of Contents

        The following is a list by state of the number of facilities we operated as of December 31, 2013.

42

Table of Contents

Item 3.    Legal Proceedings.

        The Company is a party to various legal actions, proceedings and claims (some of which are not insured), and regulatory and other governmental audits and investigations in the ordinary course of its business. The Company cannot predict the ultimate outcome of pending litigation, proceedings and regulatory and other governmental audits and investigations. These matters could potentially subject the Company to sanctions, damages, recoupments, fines and other penalties. The Department of Justice, CMS or other federal and state enforcement and regulatory agencies may conduct additional investigations related to the Company's businesses in the future that may, either individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

        To address claims arising out of the operations of the Company's specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation facilities, the Company maintains professional malpractice liability insurance and general liability insurance, subject to self-insured retention of $2.0 million per medical incident for professional liability claims and $2.0 million per occurrence for general liability claims. The Company also maintains umbrella liability insurance covering claims which, due to their nature or amount, are not covered by or not fully covered by the Company's other insurance policies. These insurance policies also do not generally cover punitive damages and are subject to various deductibles and policy limits. Significant legal actions, as well as the cost and possible lack of available insurance, could subject the Company to substantial uninsured liabilities. In the Company's opinion, the outcome of these actions, individually or in the aggregate, will not have a material adverse effect on its financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

        Healthcare providers are subject to lawsuits under the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act. Qui tam lawsuits typically remain under seal (hence, usually unknown to the defendant) for some time while the government decides whether or not to intervene on behalf of a private qui tam plaintiff (known as a relator) and take the lead in the litigation. These lawsuits can involve significant monetary damages and penalties and award bounties to private plaintiffs who successfully bring the suits. The Company has been a defendant in these cases in the past, and may be named as a defendant in similar cases from time to time in the future.

        On January 8, 2013, a federal magistrate judge unsealed an Amended Complaint in United States of America and the State of Indiana, ex rel. Doe I, Doe II and Doe III v. Select Medical Corporation, Select Specialty Hospital-Evansville, Evansville Physician Investment Corporation, Dr. Richard Sloan and Dr. Jeffrey Selby. The Amended Complaint, which was served on the Company on February 15, 2013, is a civil action filed under seal on September 28, 2012 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana by private plaintiff-relators on behalf of the United States and the state of Indiana under the federal False Claims Act and Indiana False Claims and Whistleblower Protection Act. Although the Amended Complaint identifies the relators by fictitious pseudonyms, on March 28, 2013, the relators filed a Notice identifying themselves as the former CEO at the Company's long term acute care hospital in Evansville, Indiana ("SSH-Evansville") and two former case managers at SSH-Evansville. The named defendants include the Company, SSH-Evansville, and two physicians who have practiced at SSH-Evansville. On March 26, 2013, the defendants, relators and the United States filed a joint motion seeking a stay of the proceedings, in which the United States notified the court that its investigation has not been completed and therefore it is not yet able to decide whether or not to intervene, and on March 29, 2013, the magistrate judge granted the motion and stayed all deadlines in the case for 90 days. The court has subsequently granted additional motions filed by the United States to continue the stay, and the current stay extends until March 17, 2014.

        In January, 2014, representatives of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana and the Office of Attorney General for the State of Indiana informed the Company that, while they have not yet decided whether to intervene in the case, their investigation is continuing concerning allegations that SSH-Evansville admitted patients for whom long-term acute care was not medically necessary, up-coded diagnoses at admission, discharged patients too early or held patients too long,

43

Table of Contents

readmitted patients discharged to short-stay acute care hospitals only after nine days to enable billing for two admissions, and allowed unnecessary bronchoscopies to be performed. The Company is involved in ongoing discussions with the government regarding this matter.

        As previously disclosed, beginning in April 2012, the Company and SSH-Evansville have received various subpoenas and demands for documents relating to SSH-Evansville, including a request for information and subpoenas from the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and subpoenas from the Office of Attorney General for the State of Indiana, and the Evansville (Indiana) Police Department has executed a search warrant at SSH-Evansville. The Company has produced and will continue to produce documents in response to, and intends to fully cooperate with, these governmental investigations. At this time, the Company is unable to predict the timing and outcome of this matter.

Item 4.    Mine Safety Disclosures.

        None.

44

Table of Contents

PART II

Item 5.    Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information

        Select Medical Holdings Corporation common stock has been quoted on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SEM" since our initial public offering on September 25, 2009. Prior to that date there was no public market for our common stock. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales prices of our common stock, reported by the New York Stock Exchange.

Holders

        At the close of business on February 1, 2014, Holdings had 140,286,867 shares of common stock issued and outstanding. As of that date, there were 124 registered holders of record. This does not reflect beneficial stockholders who hold their stock in nominee or "street" name through brokerage firms.

Dividend Policy

        On October 30, 2012, Holdings declared a special cash dividend of $1.50 per share, totaling approximately $210.9 million. This special cash dividend was paid on December 12, 2012 to all stockholders of record at the close of business on December 5, 2012.

        On May 1, August 7 and October 30, 2013, Holdings declared cash dividends of $0.10 per share. Such dividends were paid on May 30, August 30 and November 22, 2013, respectively, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on May 20, August 20 and November 12, 2013, respectively.

        There is no assurance that future dividends will be declared or the timing or amount of any future dividends. The declaration and payment of dividends in the future are at the sole discretion of our board of directors after taking into account various factors, including, but not limited to, our financial condition, operating results, available cash and current and anticipated cash needs. Additionally, certain contractual agreements we are party to, including the senior secured credit facility, dated as of June 1, 2011, as amended, and the Indenture governing Select's 6.375% senior notes, dated as of May 28, 2013, restrict our capacity to pay dividends.

Securities Authorized For Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

        For information regarding securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans, see Part III "Item 12 — Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters."

45

Table of Contents

Stock Performance Graph

        The graph below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on $100 invested at the close of the market on September 25, 2009, the first trading day of the Company's common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, with dividends being reinvested on the date paid through and including the market close on December 31, 2013 with the cumulative total return of the same time period on the same amount invested in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500), the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Providers Index (RXH) and the S&P Health Care Services Select Industry Index (SPSIHP). The graph below includes the S&P Health Care Services Select Industry Index to replace the previously used Morgan Stanley Healthcare Providers Index following the discontinuation of the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Providers Index, effective October 18, 2013. For comparative purposes, the graph below includes both the S&P Health Care Services Select Industry Index as well as the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Providers Index through October 18, 2013. The chart below the graph sets forth the actual numbers depicted on the graph.

46

Table of Contents

Item 6.    Selected Financial Data.

        You should read the following selected historical consolidated financial data in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. You should also read "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," which is contained elsewhere herein. The historical financial data as of December 31, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and for the years ended December 31, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been derived from consolidated financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm. The selected historical consolidated financial data as of December 31, 2012 and 2013, and for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been derived from our consolidated financial information included elsewhere herein. The selected historical consolidated financial data as of December 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and for the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2010 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial information not included elsewhere herein.

47

Table of Contents