[2] S&P Rts UCSF Fin Corp & Univ of CA BOR 'A' SPUR.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's April 4, 2000-- Standard & Poor's today assigned its single-'A' underlying rating (SPUR) to California Health Facilities Financing Authority's approximately $105 million series 1998A bonds whose repayment obligations have been assumed by UCSF UCSF University of California at San Francisco Finance Corp. and the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). Board of Regents An independent governing body that oversees a state's public Colleges and Universities. All 50 states have governing bodies that oversee the administration of public education. from UCSF Stanford Health Care. UCSF Stanford Health Care is no longer the obligor The individual who owes another person a certain debt or duty. The term obligor is often used interchangeably with debtor. obligor (ah-bluh-gore) n. on the series 1998A debt. The debt is now secured by the revenue of the UCSF Medical Center The UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus Heights and Mount Zion in San Francisco, California are the major research and medical teaching hospitals of the University of California, San Francisco. It has been ranked as the 7th-best overall medical center in the United States by U.S. . In addition, the single-'A'-minus SPUR on California Health Facilities Financing Authority's approximately $300 million outstanding hospital revenue bonds Hospital revenue bond A bond issued to finance construction of a hospital by a municipal or state agency. hospital revenue bond Tax-exempt debt issued by a city, county, state, or hospital authority with debt service guaranteed by hospital series 1998A and 1998B, issued for UCSF Stanford Health Care, is removed from CreditWatch where it was placed on Aug. 30, 1999, and changed to N.R. (not rated) as a result of the unwinding of UCSF Stanford Health Care, which was formed in 1997 by the University of California (UCAL) system (double-'A' issuer credit rating) and Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. (triple-'A'). UCSF Medical Center is comprised of two hospitals: Moffit/Long Hospital with 492 staffed beds and Mt. Zion Hospital-an outpatient and cancer facility. The medical center is the premier academic medical center serving residents from the Greater San Francisco Bay Area “Bay Area” redirects here. For other uses, see Bay Area (disambiguation). The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay . From a credit perspective, the UCSF Medical Center is viewed as an auxiliary enterprise of the UCAL system. The rating reflects both implied and explicit support from the UCAL system that includes access to working capital lines of credit available to the medical center from the system's unrestricted balances in the short-term investment pool ($2.5 billion unrestricted of $5.1 billion total investments, as of Sept. 30, 1999). Despite the support from UCAL, Standard & Poor's has concerns about the medical center's poor financial performance and the longer term implications this performance may have on the willingness of the UCAL Board of Regents to support the medical center if an effective turnaround plan cannot be attained soon. These rating actions reflect the unwinding of the UCSF Stanford Health Care obligated ob·li·gate tr.v. ob·li·gat·ed, ob·li·gat·ing, ob·li·gates 1. To bind, compel, or constrain by a social, legal, or moral tie. See Synonyms at force. 2. To cause to be grateful or indebted; oblige. group, which occurred on April 1, 2000, and the assumption of the outstanding debt by UCSF Finance Corp. and the University of California Board of Regents. UCSF Stanford Health Care is but one of a number of recent large failures of integrated health delivery systems that were attractive in concept but withered with·ered adj. Shriveled, shrunken, or faded from or as if from loss of moisture or sustenance: "the battle to keep his withered dreams intact" Time. Adj. 1. in the execution of the integration process, racking up large financial losses. In the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 1999, UCSF Stanford Health Care lost $78.5 million before extraordinary items on revenues of $1.7 billion. This loss, coupled with losses in fiscal 2000 that potentially could have equaled or exceeded the prior year's loss, ultimately caused the demise of UCSF Stanford Health Care. The UCSF Medical Center currently is filling vacancies in key managerial positions after having relied on external management consultants since last summer to oversee the organization's affairs. The management consultants developed a major operations improvement program that is being implemented and is expected to return the organization to operating profitability sometime after the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001. The underlying rating assigned on behalf of UCSF Medical Center recognizes benefits the medical center enjoys by virtue of its ownership by UCAL that may include access to capital at favorable terms, managerial oversight, and certain economies that could be realized from joint administrative services. In addition, the underlying rating reflects UCSF Medical Center's historic role as a leading provider of tertiary and quaternary care Quaternary care refers to advanced levels of medicine which are highly specialized and not widely used. Experimental medicine, service-oriented surgeries and other less common approaches to treatment and diagnostics consist of the bulk of quaternary care. to the Greater San Francisco Bay Area residents and its role as a nationally known research institution. OUTLOOK: STABLE The outlook reflects the expected longer term credit stability that characterizes current and prior debt issues of the UCAL system, Standard & Poor's said.--CreditWire |
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