Healthcare industry

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook to positive from stable on the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics’ A1 rating due to its improved fiscal performance.

The Internal Revenue Service has completed an audit of $51.1 million of auction-rate securities the Orange County, Fla., Health Facilities Authority issued in 2005 for an Orlando health care provider without changing the tax-exempt status of the bonds.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley approved the sale of bankrupt nonprofit Quincy Medical Center to for-profit Steward Health Care System LLC, while imposing many conditions.

CHICAGO - A union between St. Louis-based Ascension Health and Arlington Heights, Ill.-based Alexian Brothers Health System advanced Thursday with the announcement that the two had signed a definitive agreement for Alexian's acquisition by the nation's largest nonprofit health care system.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority board this week approved Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health Corp.'s issue of up to $600 million tied to its acquisition of Loyola University Health System in suburban Chicago, and advanced a Midwestern disaster area revenue bond issue for Cargill Inc.

Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday downgraded Mary Washington Healthcare’s rating to Baa1 from A3.

The New York State Dormitory Authority plans to sell $491 million of Series 2011A revenue bonds for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Obligated Group through negotiated bid on Thursday, following a one-day retail order period.

Fitch Ratings downgraded to A from A-plus its rating on Reid Hospital and Health Services last week, warning that the Richmond, Ind., facility continues to suffer from operating losses. Fitch revised the outlook to stable from negative.

Chicago-based Mercy Hospital is discussing some form of a union with Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health Corp., according to published reports.

CHICAGO - A nursing home in Gary, Ind., has skipped monthly payments that fund debt service since last March, forcing the bond trustee to dip into a reserve account to cover a Sept. 1 interest payment.

DALLAS - The board overseeing the construction of a $1.1 billion Louisiana state hospital in New Orleans unanimously adopted a revised no-debt financial plan on Thursday.

The University of New England has received a $3.5 million state award from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to help open the first college of dental medicine in northern New England.

The Internal Revenue Service has completed an audit of $60 million of hospital revenue bonds issued in 2002 by Lakeland, Fla., finding no change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.

DALLAS - No revenue bond debt will be required to build a new $1 billion state teaching hospital in New Orleans under a revised business plan being considered Thursday by the University Medical Center Management Corp.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded to BB-plus from BBB its rating on $80 million of facilities revenue bonds issued for Mercy Medical Center, a 337-bed teaching hospital in Canton.

LOS ANGELES - Downey Regional Medical Center, a not-for-profit hospital located in greater Los Angeles, will emerge from bankruptcy in mid-November, allowing it to close on a planned bond refunding if a bankruptcy judge approves its exit plan.

BRADENTON, Fla. - A federal bankruptcy judge in Tampa on Monday issued a final ruling in a developer's Chapter 11 filing that could have a chilling effect on owners of Florida community development district bonds, observers said.

The Michigan Legislature last week approved a bill to require public employees to contribute to their health care benefits.

CHICAGO — After a slow 2010, capital spending by nonprofit health care borrowers will likely remain low through 2015 amid a still-weak economy and the uncertain impact of the new federal health care law, according to Fitch Ratings.

Fitch Ratings has placed two sets of BB-plus rated bonds issued by the New York City Industrial Development Agency on behalf of Staten Island University Hospital on positive rating watch.