Healthcare industry

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.

Columbia St. Mary and Froedtert & Community Health’s partnership is now on hold due to economic conditions.

Standard & Poor’s earlier this month downgraded Crittenton Hospital Medical Center’s debt to A from A-plus due to economic challenges facing the hospital.

CHICAGO - Loyola University of Chicago has stepped up to help its ailing health system with an infusion of $19 million in cash, a move that staved off the system's violation of bank liquidity terms and the loss of its investment grade credit.

CHICAGO - Fitch Ratings last week rated the Urbana, Ill.-based Carle Foundation's upcoming $250 million bond sale AA-minus and assigned an "evolving" outlook due to the uncertain outcome and the fiscal impact of its merger discussions with an affiliated physicians' group.

San Francisco is making plans to sell $136 million of one-year bond anticipation notes next month to finance the first phase of the rebuilding of San Francisco General Hospital.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has raised its proposed compensation to Louisiana for hurricane-related damages to Charity Hospital in New Orleans to $150 million from an initial $23 million.

Yeshiva University's tax-exempt bonds have been hammered this week as the private, nonprofit university acknowledged potential losses in an investment scheme and a shrinking endowment.

DALLAS - Louisiana's constitutional limit on annual debt service may derail Gov. Bobby Jindal's plans to use the proceeds from $400 million of revenue bonds to finance the proposed new $1.2 billion Louisiana State University teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans.

CHICAGO - Following a sharp spike in downgrades among not-for-profit hospitals over the last two months, Moody's Investors Service warned that the sector is increasingly struggling with a number of internal and market-related pressures.