Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term rating and underlying rating (SPUR) to 'A-' from 'A' on various series of Maryland Health&Higher Educational Facilities Authority's health care revenue bonds, issued for University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) At the same time, Standard&Poor's assigned its 'A-' long-term rating to the authority's $240.765 million series 2013A and $19.45 million series 2013B tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds and $93.94 million series 2013C taxable fixed-rate bonds, issued for UMMS. The outlook on the ratings is stable. Standard&Poor's also affirmed the authority's AAA/A-1+ and 'AAA/A-1' ratings on the series 2008D and 2008E variable-rate bonds, respectively, reflecting the application of Standard&Poor's low-correlation joint criteria. We based the long-term rating
