Catholic Health Initiatives’ headquarters.

Fitch Ratings has cut the credit rating of Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives by three notches, citing the integrated health system’s weakening finances. Meanwhile, A.M. Best Co. downgraded  the rating of CHI’s health-insurance subsidiary.

Fitch said the big system  is struggling “to rein in the losses throughout a substantial part of its operations.”

CHI reported that in the  first nine months of the current fiscal year it had a net loss of $568.1 million. Health IT costs, investment losses and troubles with its health insurance company spearheaded the massive deficit. CHI’s credit rating from Fitch, which covers $6 billion of outstanding debt, was cut to BBB+ from A+.

Modern Healthcare reported that Fitch believes CHI “may need two to three years to fully implement its financial-turnaround plan. “High labor and supply costs, as well as difficult collections from the rising number of patients with high-deductible health plans, pose additional challenges for the hospital system, Fitch analysts said,” Modern Healthcare reported.

To read a Modern Healthcare article on CHI’s troubles,  please hit this link.