Fitch Affirms Children's Hospital Medical Ctr of Akron (Ohio) Bonds at 'A+'.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. affirms the underlying 'A+' rating on approximately $127.8 million in outstanding revenue bonds issued on behalf of Children's Hospital A children's hospital is a hospital which offers its services exclusively to children. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th century, as pediatric medical and surgical specialties separated from internal medicine and adult surgical specialties. Medical Center of Akron (CHMCA or the hospital). The outstanding bonds are listed below and are insured by Financial Security Assurance, Inc., rated 'AAA' by Fitch. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The 'A+' rating is supported by Medical Center's leading market share, solid financial performance and good liquidity. CHMCA maintains a leading market share of 60% in its service area, which has remained stable. In spite of the operating margin Operating Margin A ratio used to measure a company's pricing strategy and operating efficiency. Calculated by: regressing to a just above breakeven level (0.4%) in fiscal 2005, Fitch continues to view CHMCA's financial performance as solid given expected increase in operating profit margin Operating profit margin The ratio of operating profit to net sales. for fiscal 2006 and reliance on investment income and fund raising typically seen in children's hospitals This is a list of children's hospitals. See also Pediatric Care. International
New South Wales
Nine months interim operating results for fiscal 2006 show improvements over the same period in fiscal 2005. The nine month operating margin is up from 1.4% in fiscal 2005 to 1.6% in fiscal 2006. This is partly attributable to a stabilization of expenses associated with the large expansion the hospital undertook between 2001 and 2004 including depreciation and physician recruitment expenses. Utilization has remained stable with a steady growth in outpatient services outpatient services Hospital-based services Managed care Medical and other services provided, to a nonadmitted Pt, by a hospital or other qualified facility–eg, mental health clinic, rural health clinic, mobile X-ray unit, free-standing dialysis unit Examples and patient days. The hospital did see a slight decrease in admissions in the nine months period of fiscal 2006 of 348 from 6,420 admissions during the same period last year. Concerns include a high proportion of Medicaid reimbursement and a competitive market. Medicaid payors comprised 39% of CHMCA's gross revenues in fiscal 2005 and exposes the hospital to changes in state funding of the Medicaid program. CHMCA is also located in a highly penetrated managed care market leading to more unfavorable reimbursement from Medicaid managed care payors (16% of gross revenues). Fitch notes that even though the hospital's large proportion of Medicaid reimbursement is a concern, the skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data proportion is not uncommon among children's hospitals. Furthermore, managed care reimbursements are expected to see an improvement going forward as CHMCA is expecting favorable upcoming renegotiations with its payors. The competitive pediatric pediatric /pe·di·at·ric/ (pe?de-at´rik) pertaining to the health of children. pe·di·at·ric adj. Of or relating to pediatrics. market in the area is also a concern as numerous surrounding general hospitals and outpatient centers provide pediatric care. CHMCA has historically alleviated some of this concern by entering into numerous lease arrangements with aforementioned healthcare providers to operate pediatric units within their facilities. Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron consists of a 256 staffed bed pediatric specialty hospital and other subsidiaries located in Akron, Ohio and had total revenue of $279 million in FY 2005. CHMCA covenants to provide Fitch and bondholders with quarterly and annual disclosure, which Fitch views positively. Fitch affirms the following bonds at 'A+': --$44,326,000 Akron, Bath and Copley Joint Township Hospital District, Ohio Hospital Improvement Revenue Bonds, Series 2003 (Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron); --$83,533,000 Akron, Bath and Copley Joint Township Hospital District, Ohio Hospital Improvement Revenue Bonds, Series 2001 (Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron). Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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