Healthcare industry

The Internal Revenue Service has closed its audit of $40 million of 2002 revenue bonds issued by the Illinois Health Facilities Authority, now part of the Illinois Finance Authority, without changing the tax-exempt status of the debt, the IFA disclosed Thursday.

CHICAGO -Capital spending is expected to remain heavy across the nonprofit health care sector amid mounting financial pressures and the fallout from the collapsed auction-rate securities market, according to a pair of reports released this week by Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's.

Voters in northern San Diego County this week rejected a bond measure to rebuild the Tri-City Healthcare District’s hospital to meet state-mandated earthquake safety standards for a third time.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings have cut their ratings on William Beaumont Hospital as the Michigan-based system prepares to enter the market soon with more than $700 million of revenue bonds. Standard & Poor'swarned it is considering a downgrade as well

CHICAGO - Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week signed into law a new five-year hospital assessment program aimed at leveraging about $4 billion in additional federal matching Medicaid funds for the state's not-for-profit hospitals, especially those considered "safety-net" hospitals with high Medicaid volumes.

Santa Clara County voters will decide in November whether they want to pay more property taxes to rebuild their public hospital and a higher sales tax to take the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to San Jose.

Moody’s Investors Service last week upgraded to Aa2 from Aa3 the long-term rating on debt issued for the Medical Center of Central Georgia Inc.

CHICAGO - Credit quality is beginning to deteriorate across the not-for-profit health care sector as providers grapple with an array of financial pressures, said Standard & Poor's in a pair of reports on the sector released yesterday.

DALLAS - A $747 million bond proposal to rebuild Dallas' crowded Parkland Hospital will share the November ballot with candidates for state and federal office in what some expect to be a record turnout.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority advanced borrowing plans totaling about $700 million for a handful of schools, cultural institutions, hospitals, and a pioneering proton therapy center in West Chicago to treat cancer.

SAN FRANCISCO - As he had threatened, the federal receiver charged with bringing California's prison health care system up to constitutional muster yesterday sought a court order demanding $8 billion from the state government to build health care facilities.

The Orange County, Fla., Health Facilities Authority has disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service has closed an arbitrage rebate-related examination of $109.6 million of hospital revenue bonds it issued in 2002 without changing their tax-exempt status.

Rapid City-based Regional Health is set to enter the market Thursday with $67.5 million of variable-rate demand bonds, most of which will be used to refund insured variable-rate debt originally sold in 2003.

DALLAS - Texas' Bexar County Hospital District will sell the first tax-supported debt in 43 years with Monday's negotiated sale of $274.1 million of combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation.

Massachusetts could tap into tobacco settlement and rainy-day funds to help pay down a $13.3 billion other post-employment benefit liability, according to a report released last week on the commonwealth's unfunded health care costs.

A proposal New York Gov. David Paterson announced yesterday to cut local assistance spending by 6% and to cut $506 million from Medicaid spending drew sharp criticism from organizations representing hospitals and municipalities.

DALLAS - Baylor College of Medicine in Texas will get closer to eliminating its outstanding auction-rate debt and all outstanding debt enhanced with insurance from Ambac Assurance Co. with next week's planned negotiated sale of $255 million of hospital revenue refunding bonds by the Harris County Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corp.

CHICAGO -OhioHealth today plans to sell $186.7 million of variable-rate demand revenue bonds to refund five-year-old auction-rate securities.

Fitch Ratings yesterday downgraded West Penn Allegheny Health System to BB-minus from BB and placed the credit on negative watch, while Standard & Poor's placed gave the health care provider on negative watch, affecting $758 million of outstanding debt.

CHICAGO - The prestigious Cleveland Clinic Health System plans to enter the market as soon as next month with a $1.1 billion bond issue that will refund all the system's auction-rate securities and include $500 million in new money to finance regional expansion.