Hospitals will continue to recover from the recession, showing increases in patient volumes and improved access to capital, but they still face pressures such as continued growth in bad debt and charity care, Medicaid cuts and state budget pressures, as federal stimulus funds sunset.
For the year, Martin Arrick, managing director for corporate and government ratings at the company, predicted a 50-50 mix of upgrades and downgrades but negative outlooks would exceed positive outlooks.
Read HFMA’s report on the healthcare sector.
