Moody’s Investors Services has upgraded Mercy Iowa City’s revenue bonds to Ba3 from B1 and revised their outlook to positive from negative. The system was able to improve operating income by nearly $30 million in one year.

This upgrade follows Mercy’s comprehensive debt recapitalization and permanent pay down of direct debt due to a significant financial turnaround during the last year. The positive outlook reflects the system’s upwards trajectory during the past fiscal year to improve operating results. Moody’s anticipates that Mercy Iowa City will continue to show better results and return to positive income over the next two years.

Key elements of the turnaround included a refocused energy on physician staffing, core services and longer term referral partnerships with Mercy Health Network such as the recent partnership formed with Iowa Heart Center, revenue cycle improvements and new management team members with experience in hospital turnarounds.

“The confidence that Moody’s has shown in Mercy Iowa City’s performance after just 12 short months underscores the hard work, dedication and skill of the team we are blessed to have,” said Sean J. Williams, President and CEO. “We are well on our way to continued performance improvement in this fiscal year and following. While this continues to be a team effort I want to call out in a special way the outstanding expertise, focus and leadership of Doug Davenport, CFO. Mercy’s improving financial performance is being built on years of recognized excellence in clinical quality and patient satisfaction.”

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About Mercy Iowa City

Mercy Iowa City is an acute care hospital and regional referral center that draws patients from throughout southeast Iowa. In 2017 and 2018 Mercy Iowa City was awarded the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) 5 Star Rating as a Top 2% of all hospitals, the only hospital in Iowa to do so; is Johnson County’s only accredited Chest Pain Center with an American Hospital Association Gold Plus Achievement Award for Stroke Care; received the 100 Great Community Hospitals Award in 2018 from Becker’s Review; the Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award for Mercy’s Emergency Care Unit by achieving 95 percent for patient experience for ten consecutive years; an “A” grade for patient safety from Leapfrog; and the Center of Distinction Award from Healogics for Mercy’s Wound and Vein Center. Mercy has 234 acute care beds, 25 private rooms for outpatient surgery, 26 bed nursery with a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, 28 primary and specialty care clinics, a medical staff of 250 physicians representing all major medical specialties and most sub-specialties and 1,400 employees. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1873 and became an affiliate of Mercy Health Network in 2017. To learn more visit www.mercyiowacity.org.