For Immediate Release:
February 4, 2013

Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirm Southcoast Health System's bond rating and outlook

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Southcoast™ Health System today announced that Moody's Investor Service has affirmed Southcoast Health System's bond ratings, assigning an A2 rating on $60 million of Series F (2013) bonds. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned an A rating to Southcoast's Series F bonds ratings. Through their findings, Moody's and Standard & Poor's both affirmed Southcoast's outlook is stable.

The 2013 Moody's report stated that, "the assignment of the A2 rating and stable outlook is attributable to Southcoast's leading and growing market share in Southeastern Massachusetts, history of stable operating performance and significant improvement in FY 2012 performance, and good balance sheet metrics, inclusive of the Series F bonds. The A2 rating further incorporates our assessment that Southcoast's physician recruitment efforts and select program development have increased the organization's reputation in the service area, contributing to favorable volume trends over the last several years."

The Standard & Poor's report attributed the rating outcome to Southcoast's consistent group of senior leaders. The report states, "the current management team is focusing on increasing utilization by promoting high-quality and low-cost services that keep patients in the local community and limit the need for outmigration to Boston or other local providers."

About Moody's security ratings

Moody's is an essential component of the global capital markets, providing credit ratings, research, tools and analysis that contribute to transparent and integrated financial markets. Moody's Corporation (NYSE: MCO) is the parent company of Moody's Investors Service, which provides credit ratings and research covering debt instruments and securities, and Moody's Analytics, which offers leading-edge software, advisory services and research for credit and economic analysis and financial risk management. The Corporation, which reported revenue of $2.3 billion in 2011, employs approximately 6,700 people worldwide and maintains a presence in 28 countries. Further information is available at www.moodys.com.

About Standard & Poor's

With offices in 23 countries and a history that dates back more than 150 years, Standard & Poor's is known to investors worldwide as a leader of financial- market intelligence. Today Standard & Poor's strives to provide investors who want to make better informed investment decisions with market intelligence in the form of credit ratings, indices, investment research and risk evaluations and solutions.