Moody’s Associate Managing Director Lisa Goldstein said consolidation is an overall credit positive within the non-profit hospital industry, which generally has a negative outlook, and the Trinity-Catholic Health East deal represents the first multistate system-to-system merger since the mid-1990s.
Moody’s portfolio has 16 multistate health systems. Trinity is the fifth largest with $8.4 billion in annual revenue, and Catholic Health East is the eighth largest with $4.3 billion. The merged system would become the second-largest non-profit, multistate hospital system in the country in revenue after St. Louis-based Ascension Health.
In the long term, Moody’s expects large operating savings “as the enterprises leverage their skill and scale,” and more system-to-system mergers may be on the horizon as more systems look to accomplish those same goals.
More Articles on Moody’s Reports:
Moody’s: Mergers Drive Big Boost of Hospital Upgrades in 3Q
Moody’s: Higher Insured Numbers Bode Well for Non-Profit Hospitals
Moody’s: Universal Health Services’ Acquisition Strategy May Limit Debt Repayment