Irvine-based Sabra Health Care REIT Inc. recently said it will boost its borrowing capacity.
Sabra owns and invests in various types of healthcare real estate, including nursing homes.
The company said its new credit line is expected to increase revolving borrowing capability to $500 million, up from $450 million. It added that the agreement also will have an accordion feature that will increase its total available borrowing to $1.25 billion.
Separately, Sabra said New York-based Fitch Ratings Inc. affirmed its issuer default rating at BB+ and its ratings outlook as stable.
Fitch said in a news release that the affirmation “reflects that despite the issues at three of its largest assets, [Sabra] was operating with sufficient cushion in its headline credit metrics to withstand the related deterioration in cash earnings.”
It referred to Sabra’s challenges with one of its major tenants—the three-hospital Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, which defaulted after it failed to meet expectations and its operators lost financing. Sabra owns one of the hospitals and is the lender to the owner of the other two.
All three obligated parties filed for bankruptcy, and Fitch said Sabra is trying to resolve the issue by putting in another tenant or selling the owned hospital and either being repaid or selling its interests in the other two hospitals.
Fitch did say, however, it was concerned that Sabra’s equity could “consistently trade at a discount to past highs and net asset value after resolutions,” which would make it more challenging for the real estate investment trust to achieve its growth and diversification objectives.
Sabra is “pleased with the support we have received from our lenders and the ratings agencies,” Chief Executive Rick Matros said.
Nemus Wraps Up Testing
Costa Mesa-based Nemus Bioscience Inc. said it completed the validation stage of its testing effort as part of its development of a glaucoma therapy.
Nemus is using cannabinoids, or compounds that are active parts of marijuana, to develop various drugs.
Nemus’ NB1111 is what is known as a “prodrug” of tetrahydrocannabinol, a compound that has been shown to reduce intraocular pressure in rabbits with glaucoma. Nemus noted that its compound was licensed from the University of Mississippi, its commercial and research partner.
The company expects to move NB 1111 into the next animal testing stage during the first quarter and is looking to schedule a preinvestigational new-drug application meeting with the Food and Drug Administration in the first half of the year, Chief Executive Brian Murphy said in a news release.
“Our goal is not only to bring a cannabinoid-based medicine forward for glaucoma, but through our recent [licensing] of [cannabidiol] derivatives from the university, develop an ophthalmology franchise that can address unmet medical needs in multiple chambers of the eye, including the retina,” he said.
MemorialCare Works with Fed Arm
Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Health System said its regional accountable care organization was selected to participate in an initiative sponsored by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Accountable care organizations bring together hospitals, insurers and doctors’ groups in an effort to cut healthcare costs through greater efficiencies while maintaining or improving quality standards.
MemorialCare’s accountable care organization and other participating groups experienced in coordinating care for patient populations and whose provider groups are ready to assume higher levels of financial risk and reward are partnering with CMS on the initiative.
The health system said in a statement that the partnering is in accordance with the Department of Health and Human Services’ goal of tying 30% of traditional Medicare payments to alternative models, such as accountable care organizations, by year-end, and of tying 50% of Medicare payments to those models by the end of 2018.
Bits and Pieces
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian opened its Womanology by Hoag pelvic pain and treatment program in the Hoag Health Center Newport Beach. Womanology’s offerings are geared for women who face incontinence, painful sexual intercourse and other pelvic floor disorders. … Two Orange County projects are finalists in the Let’s Get Healthy California effort sponsored by the state Department of Public Health and the state Health and Human Services Agency. The agencies said the innovations would be recognized and discussed this month at a conference in Sacramento. Local finalists are Waste Not OC for its “Ending Hunger in Orange County” innovation and “Clinic in the Park: Connect, Screen, Educate,” a project of OneOC, which has locations in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Santa Ana and Tustin. A third project is a collaboration between AltaMed, which has locations in Orange County and Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California Pharmacy School. … Aliso Viejo-based Sentrian Inc. said it was selected as a 2015 global digital health 100 company by industry publication Journal of mHealth. Sentrian uses wearable biosensors to detect high-risk patients’ health deterioration in an effort to reduce hospitalization for the patients.
