Becker's Hospital Review

39 CEO / STRATEGY Nonprofit hospitals' 'deceptively strong' financial metrics likely to end, Fitch says By Hayley DeSilva N onprofit hospitals' median financial metrics showed improvement last year, but Fitch Ratings is projecting declines for next year and beyond. e credit rating agency analyzed 2021 audited data and reported that "AA" rated hospital medians showed a 20 percent increase in cash to adjusted debt. "BBB" rated health systems had an 8 percent increase. "e deceptively strong numerical improvements over prior years' medians are less a sign of sector resiliency and more a cautionary calm before the storm," Fitch Ratings senior director Kevin Holloran said in the Aug. 18 report. "Additional expenses, primarily labor, have become part of the permanent fabric of hospital operations, that when combined with ongoing incremental challenges will exert tremendous pressure on providers through calendar 2022 and beyond." Fitch predicts hospital medians will flip this time next year due to inflationary pressures, a challenging operational start to 2022 and additional omicron sub-variants. Fitch also highlighted staffing as a concern for hospital medians. "We are likely two years before some level of 'normal' returns to the sector," Mr. Holloran said in the report. "For many hospitals, their 'value journey' will be on temporary hold until expenses stabilize and become more predictable." n Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, first CEO of Mercy, dies at 87 By Alexis Kayser S ister Mary Roch Rocklage, founder of Chesterfield, Mo.- based Mercy healthcare system and its first president and CEO, died at 87 on Aug. 23 after a long illness, according to the health system. Ms. Rocklage joined the Sisters of Mercy order in 1954 while attending their nursing school. She also studied health administration before working as a nurse at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis. In 1969, she became St. John's administrator. Then, Ms. Rocklage served in the management consulting office, supporting the religious community's hospitals in seven states. She helped create the Sisters of Mercy Health System in 1986, according to the release. Ms. Rocklage served as Mercy's president and CEO until 1999, when she became chair of its board, a position in which she served until 2021. Throughout her career, she advocated for healthcare on the federal level and received numerous awards, including the Missouri Hospital Association Career Achievement Award, American Hospital Association Distinguished Service Award and Catholic Health Association Lifetime Achievement Award, according to the release. n MemorialCare names strategy chief By Molly Gamble F ountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare has named Laurie Sicaeros as the system's chief strategy officer and leadership academy dean. Since 2018, Ms. Sicaeros has served as COO of MemorialCare Medical Foundation, which includes more than 2,000 employed and affiliated physicians. She has held a number of management positions with MemorialCare, including roles in business development, mergers and acquisitions and physician practice alignment. "Over the last 25 years, Laurie has achieved exceptional success with a 'can-do' style and extraordinary leadership in pivotal initiatives that transformed MemorialCare from a hospital system to an integrated health network," MemorialCare President and CEO Barry Arbuckle, PhD, said. MemorialCare is a nonprofit system with four hospitals and more than 220 care locations in Southern California and 15,000 employees and affiliated physicians. n "We are likely two years before some level of 'normal' returns to the sector." — Kevin Holloran, Senior Director with Fitch Ratings

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