The Standard&Poor's underlying rating (SPUR) on North Carolina Medical Care Commission's bonds, issued for Scotland Memorial Hospital, reflects: The system's strong financial performance, despite serving a large number of indigent patients; Strong liquidity levels and healthy debt service coverage; and The hospital's dominant market position within its primary service area, Scotland County, tempered somewhat by the out-migration of patients seeking services at competing facilities. Negative credit factors include: Increased leverage caused by the 1999 debt issue; The hospital's small size (124 beds), which makes it vulnerable to the potential loss of one or more of its 61 active physicians; and Weaker operating performance to date in fiscal 2000, given expected growth in outpatient visits, surgeries that did not
