Moody's Investors Service downgraded MetroHealth System's debt to A3 from A2, and revised its outlook to negative late Thursday. The news came one week after MetroHealth Chief Executive Mark Moran announced he would not renew his annual contract -- a move that Moody's notes prominently in its report. When Moody's announced plans last month to do a 30-day review of the health system's finances, analysts said the scrutiny was largely because the health system's financial performance for the first nine months of 2011 was a "major departure from projections that were provided" at the end of last year.
