Healthcare industry

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook to stable from negative on the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics Aa2 rating due to the system’s improved operating performance.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed its Ba2 rating for outstanding revenue debt issued for Citrus Valley Health Partners, including $52.6 million of Series 1998 fixed-rate certificates of participation and $25 million of Series 1998 auction-rate COPs.

The Internal Revenue Service closed an audit of $61.3 million of revenue bonds issued in 2005 by the Coastal Bend Health Facilities Development Corp. of Corpus Christi, Tex., and has determined the debt can remain tax-exempt.

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed Marietta Area Health Care’s Ba1 rating on negative watch, affecting $38.5 million of outstanding debt. Marietta has an additional $33 million of letter-of-credit-backed debt not rated by Moody’s. Analysts expect to issue a full review of the credit within the next 30 days.

WASHINGTON — A critique of two proposed hospital projects in Montgomery County, Md., echoes warnings that the enactment of health care reform will make it more challenging for nonprofit health providers to finance projects through the municipal bond market.

CHICAGO — Nonprofit health care providers grappling with what to do about interest rate swaps that for years saved them money but now have become costly burdens face a “stark choice” that can depend on their fiscal position and appetite for risk.

DALLAS — The University of Colorado Hospital will use bond financing for a $400 million expansion at the new Anschutz Medical Campus at the site of the former Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, officials said yesterday.

An economic analysis of the new state teaching hospital in New Orleans has recommended that the bond issue for the facility be increased by $150 million.

CHICAGO — The federal health care overhaul could cost Indiana up to $2.9 billion through 2020, a new report estimates.

The Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority yesterday signed off on Mercy Alliance’s $48 million bond sale scheduled for this week.

A $425 million plan to build a new convention center and medical merchandise mart in downtown Cleveland advanced last week as the Cuyahoga County Commission approved the purchase of the last piece of land needed for the complex.

The Denver Health and Hospital Authority will use $29 million of health care recovery zone revenue bonds to build a 78,500-square-foot pavilion for adolescent psychology, outpatient operating rooms, a procedure center, and parking.

Moody’s Investors Service raised the debt rating of Hawaii Pacific Health to A3 from Baa1, citing four years of improved operating performance and a greatly simplified debt structure.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Miami-Dade County commissioners on Tuesday said they stand ready to take over the Jackson Health System should the current board overseeing South Florida’s largest public hospital fail to rectify the financial crisis it now faces.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum Friday amended the federal lawsuit he filed challenging the constitutionality of the new health care law to add seven new states, including Georgia and Mississippi, the National Federation of Independent Business, and two individuals.

CHICAGO — Provisions in the new federal health care law that aim to change the way hospitals are paid for their services could pose risks to nonprofit providers, Standard & Poor’s said in a report released yesterday.

House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, said Monday that Louisiana must exercise better control of state employee retirement systems that threaten funding for important services and programs.

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook to stable from negative on the BBB-plus rated CGH Medical Center, citing improved operating performance. The debt was sold through the former Illinois Educational Facilities Authority.

CHICAGO — Chicago-based Ziegler Capital Markets Group last week announced the hiring of its first New York City-based health care banker, Mike Quinn, to lead its East Coast banking and advisory efforts with hospitals and health care systems.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced plans this week for more than $550 million in health care-related deals, including the Clare at Water Tower’s tender and exchange offer that is part of a debt restructuring aimed at giving the struggling retirement development more time to succeed.