Healthcare industry

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said last week that he will not use new taxes or fees to balance the fiscal 2012 budget despite a projected revenue shortfall of $1.6 billion.

With an upgrade in hand, the University of Missouri System will enter the market Wednesday with up to $265 million of Build America Bonds to fund improvements at various campuses and its health care facilities.

A report by two state agencies determined that if Texas withdrew from the Medicaid health care program, it would cost the state $15 billion a year in federal funds.

New Jersey’s largest health care provider, Saint Barnabas Health Care, was upgraded to investment grade last week, with both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings boosting the credit to BBB-minus from BB-plus.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $147.5 million of auction-rate securities issued by the New Mexico Hospital Equipment Loan Council on behalf of the nonprofit Presbyterian Healthcare Service in 2004 and refunded in 2008.

Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on the Daughters of Charity Health System to negative due to ongoing losses.

Moody’s Investors Service placed the Baa3 rating it assigns to Citrus Memorial Hospital’s debt on watch for possible downgrade last week.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded its rating on North Memorial Health Care and Maple Grove Hospital to Baa1 from A3 and warned of further action by assigning a negative outlook due to the system’s fiscal struggles in fiscal 2010 and uncertainty over whether improvements can be achieved in fiscal 2011.

Standard & Poor’s Monday upgraded to BBB-minus from BB-plus $335 million of Saint Barnabas Health Care System debt.

CHICAGO — After years of planning and local front-page headlines, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, will hit the market next week with $346 million of tax-exempt and taxable debt that will tap two federal stimulus bond programs to help finance a new convention center and medical supply mart in downtown ­Cleveland.

Fitch Ratings downgraded to BBB-plus from A-minus roughly $219 million of revenue bonds issued on behalf of the Nebraska Methodist Health System.

The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board has approved bond proposals from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

New Jersey’s not-for-profit hospitals avoided cuts in state aid for the current fiscal year, but that could change for the fiscal 2012 state operating budget, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox last Saturday approved the $1.5 billion sale of the Detroit Medical Center to a for-profit Tennessee-based health care company. The deal awaits federal approval and is expected to close Dec. 31.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook on Edward Health Services Corp.’s A2 rating to positive from stable in recognition of its improving operations, affecting $282.4 million of debt.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Rush University Medical Center’s Obligated Group rating by one notch to A2 due to its improved operating performance in recent years.

CHICAGO — Aurora Health Care Inc. in Wisconsin enters the market as soon as Tuesday to refund $140 million of outstanding debt in a deal officials scaled down from $377 million due to rising long-term interest rates.

Fitch Ratings Tuesday assigned a junk rating to debt issued for the Sonoma County Indian Health Project.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis would float $86 million of tax-increment financing bonds to finance construction of a new corporate campus for Eli Lilly and Co.— the pharmaceutical giant that is the city’s top private-sector employer — under a plan Mayor Greg Ballard will submit to the City-County Council next week.

Requiring local government employees and retirees in New York to pay a share of health insurance premiums could save more than $1 billion annually, according to a think tank report released Monday.