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Bad Debt Still Squeezing For-Profit Hospitals Aug 05
Standard & Poors, Aug 2005
Abstract
Hospitals are constantly struggling with reimbursement issues. These difficulties, along with economic trends and the growing uninsured population, have led to the prominence of bad debt and charity care as a key item affecting hospitals' financial health. This has particularly been the case over the past two years, when the for-profit short-term acute care hospital companies rated by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services experienced an average increase of more than 200 basis points in the provision of bad debt as a percentage of revenues. While the rate of increase in bad debt levels seems to have lessened over the past couple of quarters, perhaps indicating some stabilization, it still remains far higher overall than the level of two years ago....
Companies mentioned in this report are: Tenet Healthcare Corp.,Universal Health Services Inc.,Health Management Associates Inc.,Community Health Systems Inc.,HCA Inc.,Triad Hospitals Inc.,LifePoint Hospitals Inc.,IASIS Healthcare Corp.,Vanguard Health Systems Inc.
Standard and Poors RatingsXpress Credit Research provides in-depth coverage of international corporates, financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, sovereigns and structured finance programs. RatingsXpress Credit Research lets users determine the credit rating of holdings and identify key factors underlying an issuer's creditworthiness, distinguishes the different risk exposures for new and existing deals, and provides an understanding of how their analysts interpret key regulatory, political and environmental events and their economic impact.
Research Type: Commentary
Criteria articles describe the thought process and methodology Standard & Poor's analysts use in determining ratings. These commentary pieces discuss both the quantitative (economic and financial) and qualitative (business analysis and caliber of management) aspects of the analysis, as well as legal issues.
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