BayCare Receives Strong Credit Reports

BayCare Health System maintained its impressive credit ratings this week in new rating agencies’ reports, just five weeks after the organization underwent a corporate restructuring. BayCare maintained an AA rating with Fitch and an AA2 with Moody’s. 

“BayCare has a long history of good financial stewardship. I’m proud to say, even as we embark on significant investments to ensure we continue to serve our communities’ health, we do so on sound financial footing,” said Stephanie Conners, BayCare’s president and CEO. “BayCare is planning to remain West Central Florida’s provider of choice for decades to come.” 

The ratings report came on the heels of BayCare’s request last week before the Hillsborough Industrial Development Authority for a new tax-exempt bond. The request, unanimously approved by the authority, would finance capital investments and renovations across BayCare’s primary footprint of Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties.  

The ratings also came five weeks after June 30, when BayCare moved to a new corporate legal structure. Now, BayCare hospitals and health care facilities are fully and legally part of BayCare. The new structure replaced the 50-year Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) between several local hospitals that created BayCare in 1997. It ensured that BayCare, one of the region’s largest private employers, will remain strong, providing health care access and quality jobs for the region indefinitely.  

“Our board and leadership felt strongly that to ensure BayCare remains the best place to work, receive and provide care, we needed to modernize our structure for the future,” Conners said. 

Eliminating the 2047 termination date of the JOA was cited as a positive in the Fitch rating. 

“Fitch views the dissolution of the JOA and the new parent corporate structure as a credit positive. A high level of uncertainty has been removed from BayCare's long-term credit risk profile…BayCare's corporate and governance structure is now secure and stable for the long term,” the Fitch report said. 

“BayCare, as a not-for-profit health system, exists to serve our community,” said BayCare Chief Financial Officer Janice Polo. “To have the endorsement of our ratings agencies that BayCare continues to be on the right financial path should give our entire region as well as our team members and physicians confidence that we will continue to be here providing high-quality, compassionate care.”

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 16 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and West Central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care and wellness. Its mission is to improve the health of all it serves through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information, visit BayCare.org.