A.M. Best has assigned a financial strength rating of “B++ (Good)” and an issuer credit rating of “bbb” to Community Hospital Alternative for Risk Transfer (CHART), a reciprocal risk retention group based in Burlington.
CHART’s focus is to provide hospital and medical professional liability insurance to community hospitals and employed physicians in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York.
The ratings reflect CHART’s strong operating history that is attributable to premium adequacy and favourable reserve development from prudent reserving practices and a competitive advantage in its selected market niche.
“These positive ratings are partially offset by CHART’s risk adjusted caoitalisation that is supportive of its ratings; however, potentially susceptible to adverse scenarios and inherent industry-wide challenges associated with the hospital and medical professional liability insurance sector,” said the rating firm in a release.
A.M. Best expects CHART’s ratings to remain stable in the medium term. Weakening operating trends or any material decline in the firm’s risk adjusted capitalisation could adversely impact its current ratings.
A disruption in market dynamics, adverse effects from changes in healthcare delivery or shifting claim severity and frequency patterns could also put pressure on the ratings.
