Healthcare industry

CHICAGO - The Curators of the University of Missouri will enter the market on Thursday with a $350 million sale that includes $275 million of taxable Build America Bonds to fund projects at its various campuses and projects at its health system, including a new patient tower.

A Waukesha County Circuit Court judge has ruled that nonprofit health care provider ProHealth Care is liable for about $12,000 in property taxes on various equipment in its corporate headquarters.

A plan to build a new hospital in Manhattan’s West Village got a green light last week from the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

New Jersey's coffers will feel the effects of St. Mary's Hospital's bankruptcy proceedings, as the state will pay on Sept. 1 a $1.06 million debt service payment on $45.4 million of state contract bonds, with no reimbursement from the hospital on the horizon.

Louisiana Health Secretary Alan Levine on Monday said that the governor’s office is considering the termination of Louisiana State University’s legal affiliation with a proposed academic and charity hospital in New Orleans. The LSU board of supervisors has rejected a governing agreement for the facility that had been negotiated by Levine.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Lakewood Hospital Association to A2 and assigned a negative outlook due to admission declines and operating losses.

DALLAS - Louisiana State University System's governing board on Monday rejected a proposed management agreement for a new academic and charity hospital in New Orleans to avoid sharing power with Tulane University.

CHICAGO - Former JPMorgan tax-exempt capital markets banking manager Mark T. Melio spent most of the last two decades building the nonprofit health care practices of JPMorgan and Goldman, Sachs & Co. - experience that's now a principal selling point of his new, national advisory firm focused on the struggling sector.

University Medical Center in Tucson opened a new emergency room last week, part of the hospital’s $200 million capital improvement program financed with proceeds from $137 million of revenue bonds sold in 2005 and another $55 million of bonds sold in March of this year.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is conducting audits of $38.2 million of revenue bonds issued by Howard County, Md., for a continuing-care retirement community and $49.3 million of revenue bonds issued by the Tompkins County, N.Y., Industrial Development Agency for Ithaca College.

Washington’s state conduit issuer for hospitals has issued a waiver that would allow Central Washington Hospital to issue bonds without attaining a minimum single-A credit rating, the Wenatchee World newspaper reported this week.

Hospitals operating in the state provided more than $1.8 billion in community-related benefits in 2007, up by $200 million a year earlier, according to a report released last week by the Missouri Hospital Association.

Standard & Poor’s revised its credit outlook on Howard University to negative as the school and its affiliated hospital have suffered operating losses.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board signed off on more than $1 billion worth of nonprofit health care deals and accepted the resignation of executive director John Filan, but then rehired him in an advisory capacity to help implement a revamped $3 billion program for renewable energy.

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook on Chicago-based Swedish Covenant Hospital’s BBB-plus issuer credit rating to stable from positive due to operating losses last year.

Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook on Chippewa County Memorial Hospital’s below-investment-grade credit of BB-plus to stable from positive.

Arizona State University in August will open its new College of Nursing and Health Innovation in downtown Phoenix that has been built with proceeds from bonds issued by the city.

The New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority tomorrow will head to market with $150 million of state-backed, fixed-rate bonds that will help finance the consolidation of acute-care services in northern New Jersey.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith yesterday announced the launch of a working group that will push for the creation of a new federal "center of excellence" that municipal and state officials could consult for guidance on public-private partnerships.

The Weirton Municipal Hospital Building Commission’s $7.5 million of revenue debt was downgraded by Fitch Ratings on Friday.