Ratings agencies forecast trouble for hospitals

Credit ratings agencies are forecasting trouble for the U.S. hospital sector in 2015 as federal reimbursements decrease and Republicans float a variety of changes to ObamaCare.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings, Moody’s Investors Services and Fitch Ratings all predicted that the healthcare world will face challenges in the form of rising costs and uncertainty surrounding the healthcare law.

{mosads}A Supreme Court ruling against tax credits in the federally run health insurance exchanges, for example, could create problems in states that did not expand Medicaid.

Small and nonprofit hospitals were expected to be especially hard hit overall, with larger systems better equipped to withstand changes in reimbursements and shifts to new payment models.

“The hospital sector has navigated many challenging environments in the recent past, but the upcoming years represent a true transition as the core model of healthcare delivery and reimbursement is undergoing redesign,” said Fitch Ratings Senior Director Jim LeBuhn in a statement Tuesday.