Becker's Hospital Review

8 CFO / FINANCE 10 health systems with strong finances By Ayla Ellison H ere are 10 health systems with strong operational metrics and solid financial positions, according to reports from Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service. Note: is is not an exhaustive list. Health system names were compiled from credit rating reports. 1. AnMed Health has an "AA-" rating and stable outlook with Fitch. e Anderson, S.C.-based system has a leading market share in most service lines, strong operating performance and very solid EBITDA margins, Fitch said. 2. Banner Health has an "AA-" rating and stable outlook with Fitch. e Phoenix-based health system's core hospital delivery system and growth of its insurance division combine to make it a successful highly integrated delivery system, Fitch said. e credit rating agency said it expects Banner to maintain operating EBITDA margins of about 8 percent on an annual basis, reflecting the growing revenues from the system's insurance division and large employed physician base. 3. Franciscan Alliance has an "AA" rating and stable outlook with Fitch. e Mishawaka, Ind.-based health system has a very strong cash position and maintains leading market shares in seven of its nine defined primary service areas, Fitch said. e health system benefits from a good payer mix, the credit rating agency said. 4. Gundersen Health System has an "AA-" rating and stable outlook with Fitch. The La Crosse, Wis.-based health system has strong balance sheet metrics and a leading market position and expanding operating platform in its service area, Fitch said. The credit rating agency expects the health system to return to strong operating performance as it emerges from disruption related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 5. Hackensack Meridian Health has an "AA-" rating and stable outlook with Fitch. e Edison, N.J.-based health system has shown consistent year-over-year increases in market share and has a solid liquidity position, Fitch said. 6. Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System has an "Aa2" rating and stable outlook with Moody's. e health system has a consistently strong operating cash flow margin and ample balance sheet resources, Moody's said. Inova's financial excellence will remain undergirded by its favorable regulatory and economic environment, the credit rating agency said. 7. Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare has an "Aa1" rating and stable outlook with Moody's. e health system has exceptional credit quality, which will continue to benefit from its leading market position in Utah, Moody's said. e credit rating agency said the health system's merger with Broomfield, Colo.-based SCL Health will give Intermountain greater geographic reach. 8. Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health has an "Aa3" rating and stable outlook with Moody's. e health system has a leading market position with expansive tertiary and quaternary clinical services in northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio, Moody's said. e credit rating agency said the stable outlook reflects management's ability to generate strong operating performance during the pandement and with less favorable reimbursement rates. 9. UnityPoint Health has an "AA-" rating and stable outlook with Fitch. e Des Moines, Iowa-based health system has strong leverage metrics and cash position, Fitch said. e credit rating agency expects the health system's balance sheet and debt service coverage metrics to remain robust. 10. Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health has an "AA-" rating and stable outlook with Fitch. e health system's turnaround efforts, brand recognition and market presence will help it return to strong operating n Hospitals push for PHE extension into 2023 By Molly Gamble T he Federation of American Hospitals, which represents investor-owned or managed hospitals, is urging HHS "in the strongest terms possible" to renew the COVID-19 public health emergency through 2023. "While we all long for the day when we can declare the emergency over, that day is not yet in sight for America's hospitals," FAH CEO Chip Kahn wrote in his July 27 letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Mr. Kahn urged HHS to not only renew the PHE for another 90 days by its current deadline of Oct. 13, but to "send a clear signal that an additional 90-day extension may be necessary." "This is critical to prevent unintended consequences to our healthcare system that would result from seeking shortcuts to a smooth and responsible transition out of the sustained COVID-19 crisis," Mr. Kahn wrote. In his letter, he also bulleted more than 25 PHE waivers and other policies that he urges CMS to make permanent. FAH represents the largest for-profit hospital chains in the country: HCA Healthcare, Tenet Health, Community Health Systems, Prime Healthcare, Universal Health Services and Ardent Health Services, among others. Hospitals and HHS face long-standing political pressure to wind down the pandemic-born flexibilities for people, providers and federal health programs. Congressional Republicans have been urging President Joe Biden and Mr. Becerra to end the declaration since February. n

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