Healthcare industry

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $60 million of hospital revenue bonds that were issued by Lakeland, Fla., in 2002 for Lakeland Regional Health Systems.

CHICAGO — States already facing big challenges balancing their budgets should brace for new costs and volatility stemming from implementation of the new federal health care law over the next few years, Standard & Poor’s said in a new report.

Gov. Pat Quinn last week signed Medicaid reform legislation aimed at saving Illinois at least $624 million over five years.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $51 million of auction-rate securities that were issued in a conduit deal in 2005 by the Orange County, Fla., Health Facilities Authority to current-refund bonds and finance a hospital project.

A ceremony last week in San Antonio celebrated the beginning of a $900 million expansion of University Hospital, which is being financed with help from a $751.2 million debt program authorized in 2008 by Bexar County commissioners.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York gave final and preliminary approval last week to nearly $600 million of bonds.

CHICAGO — Three weeks after the Federal Trade Commission sued Promedica Health System, arguing it violated antitrust rules, the Ohio-based hospital chain is keeping a $249 million new-money deal on hold.

Clarian Health, Indiana’s second-largest health care provider, officially renamed itself Indiana University Health this week to emphasize its partnership with the Indiana University School of Medicine.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Los Angeles County has withdrawn from the California Statewide Communities Development Authority, the state’s largest conduit issuer.

CHICAGO — Things could be looking up for nonprofit health care, though the outlook is less positive for the troubled senior-living sector, according to a pair of 2011 outlook reports Fitch Ratings is poised to release Monday.

A provider of residential services for the disabled that was part of a pooled bond deal issued by the Dormitory ­Authority of the State of New York agreed to pay $18 million in damages to settle Medicaid fraud charges, the New York attorney general announced last week.

The Charleston Area Medical Center, West Virginia’s largest medical provider, was put on watch for a possible downgrade last week by Moody’s Investors Service. The A2-rated hospital has $307 million of debt outstanding.

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s Sutter Health will sell $900 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds this month in the health care provider’s first trip to market in two years.

CHICAGO — Toledo, Ohio-based Promedica Health System will begin pricing $270 million of refunding and new-money revenue bonds Thursday.

Collier County commissioners decided Tuesday to withdraw a petition seeking the validation of up to $130 million of revenue bonds to lure a genetics research institute to the southwest Florida area, according to the Naples News.

A city-county council committee is set to hear public testimony Wednesday on Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s plan to issue $98 million of bonds for a mixed-use development, which includes a new corporate campus for Eli Lilly and Co.

CHICAGO — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission last week filed a pair of complaints against Promedica Health System Inc., a leading health care system in northwest Ohio, charging that its acquisition of a rival hospital is anticompetitive and would allow the Toledo-based system to unfairly raise prices for services.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia’s chief financial officer warned the city’s new leaders against writing a fiscal 2012 budget that draws on the general fund balance to pay for operations, saying that balancing the budget in this manner for the fifth straight year could threaten the district’s credit rating and reputation with bond ­investors.

CHICAGO — The new owners of the Detroit Medical Center kicked off the first phase of an $850 million capital program Tuesday afternoon, four days after closing the long-anticipated acquisition.

A $1 billion, largely bond-financed expansion of the Ohio State University Medical Center got a boost last week with the announcement of a $100 million federal grant. The project is Ohio’s largest labor initiative and is projected to create up to 10,000 new jobs and 5,000 construction jobs.