Healthcare industry

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.

New Jersey officials yesterday approved a $169 million bond deal for Solaris Health System that will benefit from the state's appropriation pledge as the transaction falls under New Jersey's Hospital Asset Transformation Program.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed a local economic stimulus plan this week and said his staff is preparing budget cuts to keep the general fund balanced as the economy slows.

CHICAGO - States already struggling to meet Medicaid payments face spending increases next year that could outstrip their general fund growth by up to four times, according to a new report on the program released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority yesterday approved up to $800 million of refinancing debt, including $575 million for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

With cash-strapped Illinois facing a backlog of Medicaid bills, Comptroller Dan Hynes this week called on federal authorities to increase Medicaid funding to Illinois and other states to ensure payments keep flowing to struggling service providers.

CHICAGO - The Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority yesterday advanced the borrowing plans of four major health care systems totaling about $800 million in new-money and refunding debt, including $450 million from Froedtert & Community Health Inc.

CHICAGO - Unable to access the frozen credit market to refund $60 million of bonds that were about to convert to auction-rate mode, a Kalamazoo, Mich.-based hospital last week turned to its parent company to purchase $40 million of the debt and used an emergency bridge loan to buy the remaining $20 million.

New Orleans has made an unspecified offer in another attempt to buy the hurricane-damaged Methodist Hospital in the eastern part of the city. The purchase would be financed from a $411 million pool of federal recovery money dedicated to projects in New Orleans.

CHICAGO - The Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority this week signed off on roughly $1.5 billion in bond sales even as the hospitals seeking debt indicated the timing of their transactions is uncertain amid the current market turmoil.