Healthcare industry

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.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A myriad of options, including the use of pension bonds, are being considered in Atlanta, where spending on retirement benefits has soared to 20% of the city’s $523 million annual operating budget and the unfunded liability is now $1.5 billion.

Beginning in 2011 Essex County, N.J., may need to repay bondholders on more than $2 million of outstanding debt, as the Garden State Cancer Center is in technical default on the loan.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank today will price $466.6 million of debt, marking the second piece of financing for a new $754 million public safety hospital in downtown Indianapolis.

After two years of turmoil, the nonprofit health care sector might see some relief in 2010, Standard & Poor's said in a new outlook report.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati to A2 from A1 after two hospitals separated from the five-hospital system and two more have said they intend to leave. The outlook remains negative.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Owensboro Medical Health System in Kentucky this week is expected to price $545 million of fixed-rate revenue and refunding bonds as part of a finance plan to build a new hospital and terminate two swaps.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority this week advanced plans for $750 million of health care borrowing planned by Alexian Brothers Health System, the University of Chicago Medical Center, Palos Community Hospital, and a continuing-care community.

DALLAS — Arguments got under way Wednesday in a New Orleans federal district court in an effort by historic preservationists to derail construction of a bond-financed state hospital in the city.

The North Carolina Baptist Hospital is expected to price $330 million of revenue refunding bonds on Wednesday to redeem all its outstanding bonds.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service are maintaining their negative outlooks on the nonprofit health care sector, warning that the industry faces a slew of pressures ranging from risks associated with variable-rate debt to the uncertainty of national health care reform and the likelihood of state and federal reimbursement cuts over the next 12 to 18 months.

Two rating agencies have revised Provena Health’s outlook to stable from negative ahead of its $126 million debt restructuring that took place on Monday.