Healthcare industry

BRADENTON, Fla. — With President Obama’s signature barely dry on the massive health care reform bill, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury Department and the Department of Labor, alleging that the bill is unconstitutional.

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook to negative from stable on Lake Region Healthcare Corp.’s A-minus rating due to strain on its balance sheet. Bonds for the provider were sold in 2002 through the Fergus Falls Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

Fitch Ratings placed the Detroit Medical Center’s revenue bonds on positive watch and affirmed its BB rating Monday after a for-profit health care system announced it was interested in taking over the state’s largest charity care hospital.

Standard & Poor’s late last week said Provena Hospitals’ BBB-plus rating would not be affected by the Illinois Supreme Court decision upholding a ruling that cost Provena Covenant Medical Center its property tax exemption because it failed to provide sufficient charity care.

Pennsylvania-based ACTS Retirement-Life Communities Inc., the largest nonprofit continuing care retirement community provider in the U.S., will affiliate with two smaller East Coast senior-living centers, a move that may boost debt-service coverage for one.

CHICAGO — Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he was “elated” by Friday’s announcement that a for-profit health care system is interested in buying the Detroit Medical Center — Michigan’s largest charity-care provider — and infusing $800 million into the center’s Detroit campus.

Moody’s Investors Service last week revised Temple University’s outlook to negative from stable as fiscal challenges at Temple University Health System may affect the school’s balance sheet.

CHICAGO — Nonprofit health care providers continue to grapple with fallout from the collapse of the auction-rate market, and the sector now faces up to $31.5 billion of bank-credit-supported debt that needs to be renewed by 2013, according to a new report by BMO Capital Markets.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Supreme Court yesterday upheld an appellate court decision supporting the state’s decision to strip Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana of its property tax exemption because it failed to provide sufficient charity care in a case that has garnered national attention.

CHICAGO — Two rating agencies delivered good news to Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic this week in recognition of its fitter financial profile, including improved investment returns and revisions to its defined pension plan that lowered its liabilities.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn last week signed legislation allowing the state to issue $250 million of general obligation certificates in the current fiscal year to leverage additional federal matching dollars for Medicaid.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Miami-Dade County Commission today will review a financial crisis that has enveloped the public health system whose flagship is Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The Chesapeake Regional Medical Center this week was upgraded to A2 from A3 by Moody’s Investors Service based on its consistently strong balance sheet. The action affects $39.4 million of fixed-rate debt issued in 2004.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority yesterday advanced more than $800 million of new-money and refunding debt planned by various organizations, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Alexian Brothers Health System, and Palos Community Hospital.

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell yesterday proposed the construction of a new hospital and health care facilities that would use $227 million of state general obligation bonds and other funding sources.

CHICAGO — St. Louis-based Ascension Health on Wednesday launches the first piece of its $1.34 billion new-money and restructuring deal that will raise funds for projects across its network, while also allowing the system to further reduce risk exposure and lower its maximum annual debt service.

Fitch Ratings on Monday affirmed the Southeast Missouri Hospital ­Association’s BBB-plus rating while revising its outlook to positive due to the hospital’s improved liquidity position.

Standard & Poor’s last week revised its outlook to stable from negative on the University of Chicago Medical Center’s AA-minus rating due to its strong operating performance over the last year.

Health care financing veteran Anne S. Morse joined the growing public finance team at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC last week, it was announced Thursday.

CHICAGO — The financially struggling Clare at Water Tower, an upscale, high-rise senior-living development in downtown Chicago, has reached a preliminary restructuring agreement with a group of bondholders and its letter of credit bank that, if approved, would buy the facility more time to succeed.