Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘A+’ rating for bonds issued by the New Hampshire Health and Education Facilities Authority for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Obligated Group (Dartmouth-Hitchcock) on the authority's $200.4 million series 2009 and 2010 bonds. At the same time, Standard & Poor's also revised its outlook from ‘negative’ to ‘stable.’
In its report issued Nov. 21, the rating agency notes that in the past two years, ‘Dartmouth-Hitchcock's financial performance has largely met our expectations for revising the outlook to stable. Although financial metrics remain somewhat below rating level medians, especially due to the additional debt issued in 2011 to fund the defined-benefit pension plan, the trend is positive and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's very strong enterprise profile compensates for its slightly weaker financial profile.’
The ‘A+’ rating reflects Standard & Poor’s assessment of Dartmouth-Hitchcock's:
‘¢ statewide presence and high demand for its hospital services throughout New Hampshire and portions of Vermont;
‘¢ clinic that has an extensive network of clinically and technologically integrated physicians, outpatient sites, and affiliated hospitals throughout New Hampshire;
‘¢ benefits from a single management team over the hospital and clinic; and
‘¢ adequate financial profile with improved earnings and stable unrestricted reserves.
‘The rating from S&P is great news for the organization and a testament to the work we are all doing as a team to ensure that D-H is here to improve the lives of the people and communities we serve, for generations to come,’ said Dartmouth-Hitchcock CEO and President Dr. James N. Weinstein, in announcing the Standard & Poor’s findings. ‘The upgrade of our outlook from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ is particularly significant, as it reaffirms the steps we have been taking to turn our financial performance around. ‘ S&P notes that ‘improved financial performance’ was critical to the upgrade in our outlook from two years ago.’
In May, 2012, Fitch Ratings also affirmed its rating of Dartmouth-Hitchcock rating as ‘A+/stable.’
ABOUT DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK: Dartmouth-Hitchcock’ is’ a national leader in patient-centered health care and building a sustainable health system. Founded in 1893, the systemincludes New Hampshire’s only Level 1 trauma center and its only air ambulance service, as well as the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the state’s only Children’s Hospital Association-approved, comprehensive, full-service children's hospital. As an academic medical center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock provides access to nearly 1,500 primary care doctors and specialists in almost every area of medicine, as well as world-class research at the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
LEBANON, NH - Standard & Poor's 12.2.2013