Fitch Teleconf 8/9: 2006 Median Ratios for U.S. NP Hospitals & Health Care

Fitch Ratings will hold a teleconference on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. EDT in conjunction with the release of a new report titled, ’2006 Median Ratios for Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Care Systems.’ The call will be hosted by Fitch analysts Marcelo Olarte and Tommy Chan. Powerpoint slides for the teleconference will also be available on the day of the call at www.fitchratings.com under the heading ‘Resource Library’ – ‘Teleconference and Online Events’.

U.S. non-profit hospitals and health care systems exceeded expectations and showed significant improvement in profitability in 2005. Profitability ratios, which are at their highest levels since 1998, improved largely due to increasing revenues and improved operating controls. Operating margins improved 33.3% to 2.8% in 2005 from 2.1% in 2004, and excess margins sharply increased for the third consecutive year to 4.8% from 3.7% in 2004. This strong operating performance also contributed to a growth in liquidity as the 2005 median for days cash on hand improved to 163.9 days, up from 157.8 days in 2004. The 2005 median for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) debt service coverage also improved, to 3.5 times (x), from 3.3x in 2004.

Participants should call 877-241-2557 five minutes prior to the 2:00 p.m. EDT start time and give the title of the call ’2006 Healthcare Medians’, or the call leader name ‘Marcelo Olarte.’ To ensure there are sufficient telephone lines available, use internal conferencing capabilities, if possible, for multiple listeners at a single location. If you would like to participate, e-mail ‘pfconference.calls@fitchratings.com’.

A replay of the teleconference will be available starting Wednesday, August 9 at 5:00 p.m. EDT until August 16 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Participants interested in listening to the replay should call 800-642-1687. The conference ID number for the replay is ’3076461′.

Fitch’s rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency’s public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch’s code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the ‘Code of Conduct’ section of this site.