BOSTON (S&P Global Ratings) May 5, 2016--S&P Global Ratings said today that its ratings on Franklin, Tenn.-based acute-care hospital operator Community Health Systems Inc. (B+/Negative/--) are not affected by the company's weak first-quarter operating results and its announced plan to divest additional hospitals to repay debt. Our negative rating outlook reflects our view that the company's operating challenges may take some time to resolve. While we believe that the company's focus on leverage reduction is a modest credit positive, the negative outlook also takes into consideration some uncertainty about Community's ability to reduce leverage to the mid-5x range over the next few quarters and generate substantial, stable discretionary cash flows over time. Our ratings on Community continue to reflect the
