Hospital bond ratings mixed

Bonds for Northern Colorado’s hospital systems received revised ratings from Standard and Poor’s — one an upgrade, the other a downgrade.

Both Banner Health and Poudre Valley Health System saw changes to their long-term ratings. For Banner, which operates McKee Medical Center in Loveland and North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, S&P lowered the long-term and underlying rating on its outstanding debt from ‘AA-‘ to ‘A+’. However, it also revised the outlook on the debt from negative to stable.

S&P cited balance-sheet erosion related to an increase in debt in 2008 and 2007. The rating service also noted that Banner has a…