S&P Global Ratings affirmed its "A" rating on Pine Bluff, Ark.-based Jefferson Regional Medical Center's series 2011 revenue bonds and revised the outlook to negative from stable.
"The negative outlook reflects our view of management's plans to move forward with significant capital spending on a large facility rebuild project and the associated new debt issuance expected within the outlook period, which will likely weaken JRMC's balance sheet metrics," said Wendy Towber, an S&P Global Ratings credit analyst.
In addition, the outlook revision is a result of JRMC's operating losses in fiscal year 2017 and S&P's expectation that these losses will continue during fiscal year 2018.