Healthcare industry

Standard & Poor’s has raised the rating on the West Plains Industrial Development Authority’s revenue bonds issued for the Ozarks Medical Center to BB-minus, three notches below investment grade, from B-plus.

Children’s Memorial Hospital’s plans to build a heliport on the roof of its partially bond-financed hospital under construction in downtown Chicago is being challenged by a community group.

The nation's largest nonprofit health care provider has extended its reach into the Chicago-area market with the acquisition of a suburban hospital chain.

The rating on $481.6 million of general obligation bonds issued by Palomar Pomerado Health was dropped one notch to A-plus on Dec. 23.

Michigan-based Trinity Health, one of the nation's largest Catholic health care systems, will invest up to $150 million over the next five years as part of its acquisition of Mercy Health System if the deal is approved by an Illinois review board.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $800 million of hospital revenue bonds that were issued by the South Miami, Fla., Health Facilities Authority in May 2007 to finance projects for affiliates of Baptist Health South Florida and to refund previously issued bonds.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded to A3 from A2 the Metrohealth System in Ohio and revised the outlook to negative from stable.

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook on Hannibal Regional Hospital’s BBB-plus rating to negative from stable as the Missouri facility struggles with declining admissions.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $177.2 million of Series 2005I long-term adjustable-rate hospital revenue bonds issued by the Highlands County, Fla., Health Facilities Authority for the Adventist Health System/Sunbelt Group.

Moody's Investors Service has lowered its rating to Baa3 from Baa2 on Anderson Hospital due to its weakened financial performance. The action affects $33.9 million of rated debt sold through the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority.

U.S. Bank NA notified the market that it was sued by Fiddler's Creek Community Development District 2 in South Florida.

The future of Medicaid, which eats up nearly a quarter of states' budgets, will play a key role in governments' fiscal health over the next several years, Standard & Poor's said in a new report on the federal program.

The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced about $600 million of borrowing planned by the University of Chicago, Children's Memorial Hospital, and others before the end of the year and into 2012.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Agnesian Health Care’s A3 rating while revising its outlook to positive from stable in recognition of its favorable operating margins.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed its Baa1 rating on UC Health and revised the outlook to positive from stable, saying that the newly reorganized system has exhibited recent improvements in operations.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded to A2 from A1 its rating on Elkhart General Hospital, affecting $86.6 million of bonds.

Standard & Poor’s affirmed its BBB-plus credit rating and stable outlook for the not-for-profit ACTS Retirement-Life Communities of West Point, Pa.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York approved $531 million in financings for higher education and health care, including $340 million in 23-year, fixed or variable-rate tax-exempt bonds for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

A proposal to allow the New York Department of Health to replace hospitals' leadership would be a credit positive, Moody's Investors Service said.

LOS ANGELES — Downey Regional Medical Center, a non-profit hospital located in greater Los Angeles, is close to reaching an agreement with Avanti Health Systems LLC that would enable it to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy and make its bondholders whole.