All Featured Insights

Midway through 2024, we are seeing a sustained trend of stronger performance. Revenue and expense trends and length of stay will be indicators for the months ahead, but for now, good planning and tough decisions are translating into better results.

The new generation of weight-loss drugs has the potential to help reduce prevalence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, two of the most prevalent chronic conditions. How might that affect hospital operations and capital and financial planning?

Rating meetings should include a meaningful discussion of notable achievements along with a frank, no-spin discussion of the risks the organization is facing. This balance will build credibility with the rating analyst and, ultimately, the rating committee.

Steward Health Care’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is one of the largest health system bankruptcies in recent memory. Although Steward is a for-profit system, there are important lessons that not-for-profit health system leaders can learn from the Steward bankruptcy.

While days cash on hand is a pillar liquidity ratio for healthcare, liquidity is an equally important concept. There is a difference between wealth and liquidity, and recent events have demonstrated the growing importance of the latter.

Upgrades and downgrades reflect the realities of what ratings are intended to do, which is to reflect the rating agency’s best assessment of an organization’s performance for investors. Upgrades must be earned and downgrades may happen quickly, but affirmations are most typical.

How you tell the story of your organization is as important as the story itself. Paying attention to three key themes will help ensure that your best voice is being heard in rating committee.

The past year saw a material increase in downgrades over 2022 while the number of upgrades declined from the prior year. Here are five key takeaways from rating activity in 2023.

How can board members play a helpful role in rating agency meetings if they are invited to attend? Here are three ways in which board members can add value to the rating presentation.

Responses to Kaufman Hall’s 2023 “State of Healthcare Performance Improvement” report indicate ongoing concern regarding covenant challenges in 2024. Organizations need to understand the causes of covenant misses and near misses and build a durable financial plan for the future.

The number of not-for-profit hospital rating downgrades has escalated in 2023, suggesting that benefit of the doubt is running out. Hospitals will need to go the extra mile when preparing material for their rating agency meetings.

The rating committee is central to the rating process: all rating decisions are made by the committee, not an individual. In her new blog, Lisa Goldstein identifies five things to know about what happens in a rating committee.