Standard & Poor’s Upgrades Prime Healthcare Rating on Stronger Operating Performance
Ontario, Calif., April 6, 2015 – Prime Healthcare Services announced today that Standard and Poor’s (S&P), the global credit benchmarking company, has upgraded Prime Healthcare’s corporate credit rating to B+ which places it among the top performing health systems nationwide.
According to S&P, Prime Healthcare “has outperformed our operating expectations this year.” The company noted that today’s upgrade places Prime among leading national health systems such as HCA, Community Health Systems and Tenet Healthcare. S&P raised the corporate credit rating from B to a B+ and also raised its rating on Prime’s senior secured term loan from B to B+ and raised its recovery rating on this debt from 4 to 3.
“Prime Healthcare is committed to providing sustainable, quality healthcare in every community it serves,” said Prem Reddy, MD, FACC, FCCP, Chairman, President and CEO of Prime Healthcare Services. “We are proud to have been upgraded by S&P and look forward to continuing to provide excellence in care, financial stability and significant investments at each of our hospitals.”
S&P referenced Prime’s “continued success with its operating model of acquiring and turning around distressed hospitals, several quarters of better-than-expected operating results” and “faster-than-expected operating turnaround of recently acquired hospitals.” S&P added that “While we believe that Prime will remain very acquisitive, the company has significant experience in managing acquisitions.”
Prime’s withdrawal of its bid to acquire the struggling Daughters of Charity Health System, following onerous conditions imposed by the state Attorney General, also contributed to today’s rating upgrade. “The upgrade also follows news that Prime will not pursue the Daughters of Charity acquisition, a sizable transaction that introduced uncertainty into our future operating forecasts,” S&P stated.
Prime Healthcare Services
Prime Healthcare is an award-winning national hospital system with 34 acute-care hospitals providing more than 35,000 jobs in 11 states. Based in California and one of the largest hospital systems in the country, Prime Healthcare is committed to ensuring access to quality healthcare. It has been recognized as among the “100 Top Hospitals“ in the nation 33 times and among the “15 Top Health Systems“ three times, and is the only “10 Top Health System” west of the Mississippi. Our hospitals have been recognized by The Joint Commission among the “Top Performers on Key Quality Measures” in 2014.
Prime Healthcare is dedicated to serving our patients and communities. Since 2010, our hospitals have provided more than $2 billion in charity and uncompensated care. We provide more charity care than any other hospital system in California (excluding public hospitals) and nearly double the state average. With over $800 million invested in capital improvements since 2005, we are committed to transforming all of our hospitals into award-winning centers of excellence. For more information, please visit www.primehealthcare.com
