St. Charles Parish Hospital District No. 1, Louisiana; General Obligation

S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term rating to 'B' from 'A' on St. Charles Parish Hospital District No. 1, La.'s previously-issued general obligation (GO) parity debt. The outlook is stable. The rating action reflects the application of our "U.S. And Canadian Not-For-Profit Acute Care Health Care Organizations" criteria published March 19, 2018 on RatingsDirect. Previously, we rated St. Charles' debt under our GO debt criteria. We view the district's underlying credit quality as stable. The 'B' rating reflects our view of St. Charles Parish Hospital District's limited enterprise profile and very weak balance sheet highlighted by extremely thin cash on hand and high debt levels. This is partly offset by improved operating performance and surpluses after a number of years

...S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term rating to 'B' from 'A' on St. Charles Parish Hospital District No. 1, La.'s previously-issued general obligation (GO) parity debt. The outlook is stable. The rating action reflects the application of our "U.S. And Canadian Not-For-Profit Acute Care Health Care Organizations" criteria published March 19, 2018 on RatingsDirect. Previously, we rated St. Charles' debt under our GO debt criteria. We view the district's underlying credit quality as stable. The 'B' rating reflects our view of St. Charles Parish Hospital District's limited enterprise profile and very weak balance sheet highlighted by extremely thin cash on hand and high debt levels. This is partly offset by improved operating performance and surpluses after a number of years of losses and is largely a result of a relatively new management agreement (effective early in fiscal 2015) with a subsidiary of the Ochsner Health System (Ochsner), a multihospital system that covers a large part of...

Full Report