Healthcare industry

As New York's 2009 legislative session kicks into high gear the state's largest issuers are looking for support for their annual wish lists.

Fitch Ratings last week upgraded about $64.4 million of outstanding Delaware Health Facilities Authority revenue bonds sold for the Beebe Medical Center project to A-minus from BBB-plus.

AUSTIN - Texas could issue the first bonds from a $3 billion cancer research program by the end of the year if the Legislature approves debt service appropriations in the current session, Lieut. Gov. David Dewhurst said yesterday.

CHICAGO - The tough times plaguing U.S. not-for-profit health care borrowers are likely to continue through 2010, Fitch Ratings warned in a report on the sector issued yesterday.

SAN FRANCISCO - California officials say the state has done enough to fix health care at its prisons and a federal court should dismiss a receiver who has ordered the state to spend $8 billion to build and renovate prison hospitals.

CHICAGO - As Evansville, Ind.-based Deaconess Health System prepares to issue roughly $100 million in fixed- and variable-rate bonds, finance officials say they are hoping to take advantage of the growing appetite for tax-exempt health care debt among retail buyers.

CHICAGO - Minneapolis-based Allina Hospitals and Clinics expressed surprise late last week at the Minnesota attorney general's decision to file a lawsuit against the system over the credit-card like interest rates it charges on medical debts, saying it had already decided to lower those rates.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority expects OSF Healthcare System and Rush University Medical Center to soon join in on the slow trickle of struggling health care borrowers testing market interest in their sector's debt so far this year.

CHICAGO - While the market has strengthened for many issuers over the last month, nonprofit health care providers continue to struggle to sell bonds at attractive prices - a problem that is likely to persist throughout 2009, Standard & Poor's predicted in a grim report on the sector issued yesterday.

CHICAGO - Two Midwestern hospitals have postponed plans for high-profile cancer treatment centers - of which only five now exist nationally - citing a weak bond market for health care projects.

DALLAS - Woman's Hospital of Baton Rouge has halted construction on a hospital replacement project until it can sell up to $350 million of bonds to finance the effort.

The Jan. 7 article by Michelle Kaske alleges that "questions continue" over the billing and financial practices at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She refers to an October article in which the Newark Star-Ledger reported that UMDNJ "continued to overbill even during a two-year period when there was a federal monitor observing the school."

DALLAS - New Orleans' recovery director said yesterday that bond-financed projects in the city are viable despite sluggish sales of Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds dedicated to economic restoration efforts.

CHICAGO - Winning the praise of many lawmakers and business and health care groups, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle this week resurrected a plan to impose a new assessment on hospitals with the aim of raising an additional $300 million annually in federal Medicaid funds.

WASHINGTON - An Internal Revenue Service audit of bonds issued in connection with a Montana continuing care retirement facility could have widespread implications regarding whether refundable entrance fees common to CCRCs are so-called "replacement proceeds" whose investment must be yield-restricted for arbitrage purposes.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service will use the information that tax-exempt hospitals submit to it under the new Form 990 to determine if they provide enough community benefits to remain tax-exempt, a top IRS official said this week.

DALLAS - Stephen F. Austin State University will issue $23 million of revenue bonds next week to build a nursing school and expand other buildings on its Nacogdoches, Tex., campus.

As the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey gears up for a long-awaited refinancing, questions continue over its billing and financial practices.

Standard & Poor’s last week downgraded MetroHealth System to BBB-plus from A-minus due to weak operating results. The action affects $28.8 million of variable-rate bonds issued in 2003 through Cuyahoga County. The bonds carry a letter of credit but Standard & Poor’s does not rate it.

SAN FRANCISCO - The largest public housing finance agency in the country has stopped most mortgage lending and is working to deleverage its balance sheet to help it weather the sharpest housing downturn in its three decade history.