Moody’s Investors Service downgraded to Baa2 from Baa1 $8.95 million of debt issued on behalf of Memorial Healthcare, located in Shiawessee County between Lansing and Flint.
The Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority issued the debt in 1999. Moody’s revised the outlook to stable at the lower rating.
The move comes less than a year after the hospital’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer both left, in April 2009. They have been replaced with interim executives, who have said that a permanent management team will be hired shortly, according to Moody’s.
The downgrade also reflects years of “thin operating performance,” three consecutive years of deficits, declining patient admissions at the hospital, and projections that the weak performance will continue, analysts said.
