OREANDA-NEWS. January 19, 2016. Fitch Ratings has published its U.S. Healthcare Dashboard. This report discusses important recent events and includes key financial and credit metrics for U.S. Healthcare and Pharmaceutical companies.

Recent events indicate that companies will be facing some headwinds to operating margins in 2016. Most notably, a debate about drug pricing has emerged as a high-profile topic in the presidential election cycle, focusing the scrutiny on drug makers for boosting profits through substantial price hikes. Fitch believes it is increasing critical for companies to articulate a value proposition and execute that vision to avoid pressure from payors and consumers.

Healthcare providers are also facing some operating challenges in 2016. These include the pending consolidation among the largest commercial health insurers. Consolidation of payors could have some important longer-term ramifications for hospital companies and other healthcare providers, such as accelerating the nascent shift towards value-based payments if larger insurers find it beneficial to advance the use of these payment models..

Fitch will regularly update U.S. Healthcare industry key statistics and analysis in its "U.S. Healthcare Dashboard," available at www.fitchratings.com or by clicking on the link below. Fitch also recently published more detailed reports on the innovative pharmaceutical and for-profit hospital sectors, as shown in the list of related research below.