Healthcare industry

The tax supporting a $38 million bond deal for a rural Alabama hospital faces a legal challenge, though supporters say a state constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot should cure the problem for Chilton County and other localities, including Jefferson County.

Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health are in negotiations that could result in creation of the nation’s largest nonprofit hospital chain or another form of “alignment.”

Illinois-based Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare received an A rating from Fitch Ratings as it prepares to come to market to refund old debt issued by the two systems that joined forces in 2013 and establish a new obligated group.

Wisconsin-based Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital Inc.'s rating fell deeper into junk after a three-notch downgrade from Moody's Investors Service.

The Illinois Finance Authority signed off on $800 million of borrowing plans by several Illinois-based not-for-profit health systems and a Chicago art museum joining the parade of issuers to hit the market this quarter with both new-money and refunding paper.

Vanderbilt University received an upgrade to triple-A ahead of its first foray into the bond market since separating financially from its medical center.

Oaklawn Hospital in Calhoun County, Michigan plans to convert its variable rate paper to fixed-rate debt in an upcoming $74 million hospital revenue bond refunding.

Fort Wayne, Indiana based Parkview Health System’s improved operating performance earned it a one notch upgrade into the double-A category.

Hidalgo County Health Services Corp. debt issued for the Mission, Texas, Regional Medical Center moved closer to a default rating as S&P Global Ratings dropped $26.7 million of bonds to CCC from B-minus.

After turning around its operating performance, the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Bronson Healthcare Group received an upgrade of its credit outlook to stable as it prepares to refund $109 million of debt.

San Diego-based Palomar Health is set to issue more than $400 million of refunding bonds in the next two weeks, split between investment-grade general obligation debt and junk-rated revenue bonds.

Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and University of Chicago Medical Center are planning deals totaling about $425 million following Illinois Finance Authority approval.

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic returns to the market Wednesday to take advantage of low interest rates to shed some of its floating-rate exposure.

Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System, one of the largest healthcare systems in Southeast Michigan, hits the market with an $821 million refunding next week sporting an upgrade from one rating agency and a positive outlook shift from another.

Two large bond offerings from Providence St. Joseph Health, the result of a merger between two major West Coast healthcare providers, epitomize the continuing trend of consolidation in the not-for-profit healthcare sector.

Caught up in a dispute between county tax appraisers and the bankrupt owner of a nuclear power plant, a tax-supported hospital district in Glen Rose, Texas, has defaulted on its debt payment, according to a disclosure notice.

New Hampshire's Dartmouth-Hitchcock Obligated Group received a one notch downgrade from one rating agency while another placed it on watch with negative implications.

Southwest Ohio’s largest healthcare provider capitalized on the low interest rate environment last week to save on the debt of four hospitals it now operates as one obligated group.

Fifty years ago, Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp. issued a $1.6 million bond for a now-defunct biblical school. Since then it has handled roughly $7.4 billion in debt.

South Florida can expect Zika-related travel advisories to hurt tourism and related tax revenues, S&P Global Ratings said. The only question is by how much.