Healthcare industry

CHICAGO - In the first deal of its kind, a Federal Home Loan Bank recently provided a letter of credit for a tax-exempt health care bond issue that participants said offers an attractive option for smaller issuers struggling to secure credit enhancement in the current market.

New Orleans will pay up to $79 million to buy 70 acres of land north of downtown for a planned Veterans Affairs hospital and to relocate the residents.

CHICAGO - Catholic elementary and high schools are increasingly turning to the tax-exempt debt market to finance their capital projects, according to bankers at Ziegler Capital Markets, which recently closed a deal for the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Mich.

Standard & Poor’s last week lowered its underlying rating to A from A-plus on DCH Health Care Authority’s debt and maintained a negative outlook on the credit.

CHICAGO - Not-for-profit hospitals have been hard hit by recent capital markets turmoil, as providers have been forced to postpone debt sales while facing failed remarketings, negative swap valuations, and stricter covenants from a shrinking pool of credit providers, according to a pair of reports out this week.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority board yesterday advanced plans for more than $1.7 billion of bonding by a dozen borrowers, including the University of Chicago, and hired a new executive director - the state's former top fiscal officer, John Filan.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners last week approved a $930 million 2009 spending plan for the county’s health and hospital bureau, the first budget under a new a new independent board that took over the fiscally troubled health system earlier this year.

A deal to purchase Pontiac’s bankrupt North Oakland Medical Center came through at the 11th hour last week after Michigan agreed to a deal to sell the facility.

DALLAS - Denver's National Jewish Health has seen its rating from Fitch Ratings slip one notch to BBB from BBB-plus after reporting a $5.3 million operating loss amid a weakening balance sheet. The downgrade brings Fitch in line with Standard & Poor's on the nonprofit's $44.9 million of debt.

SAN FRANCISCO - Last week's election was one of the most successful in years for backers of local bond and tax measures in California, according to an authority on the subject.

CHICAGO - Nonprofit hospitals would generally benefit under the reform plan proposed by President-elect Barack Obama, according to a Moody's Investors Service analysis of the election's impact on the health care system.

Despite a faltering national economy, voters by and large gave a very favorable reception to bond referendums on Tuesday's ballot.

Miami Valley Hospital in Montgomery County plans to issue $70 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds this week, followed by another $180 million of variable-rate bonds, to refund some of its debt and finance capital expenditures.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Co. has hired Maureen A. Spivack as a managing director in the firm's Shattuck Hammond Partners health care division in New York.

WASHINGTON - The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday reversed a lower court and ruled that the Glebe, an upscale continuing-care retirement community near Roanoke, is exempt from local taxes, a decision that eases the facility's concerns of owing hundreds of thousands of back taxes and improves its finances.

CHICAGO - Just days after closing its doors and preparing for liquidation, officials at a bankrupt Pontiac, Mich.-based hospital that has defaulted on bond payments twice this year said a deal to sell the facility remains possible if prospective buyers can secure financing.

A dispute between Louisiana State University and Tulane University over the composition of the oversight board for the proposed new $1.2 billion LSU academic hospital in downtown New Orleans has delayed the state’s plan to issue up to $400 million of revenue bonds for the facility.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey faces new allegations of inflating medical costs by at least $21 million a year and increasing federal reimbursements for the hospital, according to a weekend report in the Newark Star-Ledger.

DALLAS - State and local governments in the Southwest are asking voters to approve more than $10 billion of bonds on a presidential election ballot expected to draw a record turnout a week from today.

CHICAGO -The Illinois Finance Authority last week advanced borrowing plans totaling nearly $1.5 billion for health care, higher education institutions, and other nonprofits, including a $375 million sale planned by Rush University Medical Center and $500 million for the University of Chicago.