Healthcare industry

The Illinois Health Services and Facilities Review Board last week advanced Central DuPage Health and Delnor Health System’s merger plans by approving an ownership change.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners tapped a new interim chief for the health and hospital system after the unexpected resignation of two-year chief financial officer William Foley last week.

SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has reached a tentative deal with a coalition of unions that could help curb the city’s ballooning pension and retiree health care benefit costs.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $38.77 million of defaulted special assessment bonds that were sold in 2005 by the Aberdeen Community Development District in Florida to finance infrastructure for a residential community.

San Francisco voters will get another chance to weigh in on reforming the city’s pension and retiree medical benefit costs.

CHICAGO — With his proposal to borrow $8.75 billion to pay down bills floundering, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is pressing lawmakers to authorize $1.75 billion to $2 billion of short-term bonding to pay off Medicaid-related bills before federal reimbursement rates drop in July.

The Kentucky Legislature is in overtime trying to come up with an agreement to plug a $176 million deficit in the state’s Medicaid program this year.

CHICAGO — The bankrupt Fairview Obligated Group, operator of several Chicago-area continuing care retirement communities, will hold an auction next month on its Rockford campus as investors who hold $57 million of mostly tax-exempt debt await word on how much they stand to recoup.

LOS ANGELES — California’s Sierra Kings Healthcare District is nearing a deal that could lead to its exit from Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

CHICAGO — Dayton, Ohio-based MedAmerica Health Systems will begin taking retail orders Wednesday on $100 million of fixed-rate bonds followed by institutional sales Thursday.

San Francisco’s unfunded pension and retiree health care liabilities have ballooned to around $6 billion, according to a report by a Stanford academic and former California assemblyman.

California Controller John Chiang Monday released an actuarial report saying the state faces a $59.9 billion bill to pay for health care and dental benefits for state retirees over the next 30 years.

CHICAGO — The Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, a small A-plus-rated provider in southern Illinois, began planning a $45 million bond issue early last fall. But after months of watching interest rates climb in the public market, the hospital decided to privately place the debt with a bank.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Sierra Kings Health Care District’s general obligation bonds to Baa3 from Ba2 after a federal judge ruled that GO debt service cannot be interrupted by the district’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.

Bonds issued by the Monongalia Building Commission on behalf of the Monongalia Health System in Morgantown have been upgraded to A-minus from BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced borrowing plans Tuesday for three central Illinois hospitals seeking to refund debt or raise funds for new projects, including $400 million for the Carle Foundation’s overhaul of its Urbana campus.

Cleveland Clinic chief executive officer and president Toby Cosgrove predicted the federal health care law would cost the prestigious facility $174 million in annual revenue beginning in 2015.

CHICAGO — Trinity Health Credit Group’s plan to buy Loyola University Health System should bolster the latter’s fiscal standing, though analysts say it’s too early to tell what impact the acquisition will have on Trinity’s balance sheet.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Thursday called for an indefinite freeze of the health care subsidy for city employee retirees, and urged the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners to reject a proposed increase to retiree health care subsidies for sworn personnel.

CHICAGO — Bondholders owed more than $50 million by an Indiana hospital in receivership would receive a mere $3 million or less under a proposed sale of the facility’s most valuable assets.