Moody's Investors Service has assigned an "Aa3" rating to $92.6 million of planned series 2014A fixed rate revenue bonds to be issued on behalf of Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare and revised the system's outlook from negative to stable.
PHC — a five-hospital tertiary referral healthcare system — affiliates include: 529-bed Piedmont Atlanta Hospital; 157-bed Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville, Ga.; 52-bed Piedmont Mountainside Hospital in Jasper, Ga.; 136-bed Piedmont Newnan (Ga.) Hospital; and 215-bed Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Ga.
The rating affirmation was supported by a number of factors, including PHC's improved operating margins and improved liquidity ratios. The system recorded an 11.2 percent adjusted operating cash flow margin in fiscal year 2014, up from 7.6 percent in FY 2013.
The rating affirmation was also supported by the system's good market coverage throughout the
PHC also faces some challenges, which were considered for the rating affirmation, such as its location in a competitive healthcare market with multiple prominent health systems.
The outlook revision was based on the expectation that PHC will sustain improved operating margins and maintain or improve liquidity ratios.
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