Brentwood, Tenn.-based outpatient surgical services company Surgery Partners Inc. underperformed our expectations for organic revenue growth and EBITDA, and distributions to noncontrolling interest holders (physicians) increased, exceeding our expectations. We now expect free cash flow deficits (after distributions to noncontrolling interest holders) for 2018 and 2019, whereas we previously forecast free cash flow of $20 million-$30 million annually. We are lowering our long-term issuer credit rating to 'B-' from 'B', and are lowering the issue-level ratings by one notch. The outlook is stable. The stable outlook reflects our expectations for low–single-digit percentage revenue growth, supplemented by acquisitions and some margin improvement that will lead to gradually improving free cash flow in 2019 and 2020. The rating action reflects our expectation
