Not-for-profit hospital cut back on their borrowing by bonds last year as they focused more borrowing on upgrading information technology and less on brick and mortar building projects. Given the speed with which IT changes and the move from fewer inpatient beds to  more outpatient services, this would seen to make sense.

As Pierre Bogacz, managing director at HFA Partners, told Modern Healthcare, the situation makes hospitals “better-suited for a 10- to 15-year bank loan {for information technology} than for a bond issuance with a 30-year amortization schedule {for new building projects.”