Healthcare industry

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York's board on Wednesday approved $175 million of new financings for healthcare, higher education, and non-profit institutions.

A state-owned hospital that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal hoped to lease for $35 million is worth only $20.9 million at best, according to a new appraisal of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital.

Standard & Poor's lowered West Penn Allegheny to CC from B-minus in the beleaguered health system's third downgrade from a major rating agency in two months.

Moody’s Investors Service revised the outlook on Baa1-rated Fletcher Allen Health Care to positive from stable, affecting $330 million of outstanding debt.

Fitch Ratings affirmed its BBB rating on Peninsula United Methodist Homes Inc., and upgraded the outlook to positive from stable.

West Penn Allegheny Health System revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission may sue it over accounting discrepancies.

Moody's has assigned an issuer credit rating of Baa1 to Presence Health, the new health care system created by the merger late last year of Resurrection Health Care and Provena Health.

The federal bankruptcy court in Chicago has signed off on a suburban Chicago retirement community's reorganization plan that relies on a $90 million bond issue to restructure its $116 million 2006 issue.

Federal cuts to physician reimbursement in the Medicare program would have a negative effect on U.S. nonprofit hospitals, Fitch Ratings says.

Including more poor residents in Louisiana’s Medicaid health-care program would cost the state almost $4 billion over 10 years, the head of the state health department said.

Missouri's Mercy Health saw strong retail and institutional interest on its $250 million new-money issue for capital projects -- including the replacement of its Joplin hospital destroyed by a May 2011 tornado.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder last week said the state has still not made a final decision about whether to create its own health insurance exchange or let the federal government run one as part of the new federal health care law.

Moody's has placed New York University Hospitals Center's A3 bond rating under review, after the continued closure of Tisch Hospital following Hurricane Sandy.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is fending off allegations that the $3 billion cancer research bond program that won statewide voter approval in 2007 is funding projects for his campaign contributors.

Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the rating on Barnabas Health, N.J., to Baa1 from Baa2, and revised the outlook to stable from positive.

A one-hospital system in northern Ohio with low-investment grade ratings saw its $53 million deal oversubscribed by more than four times, according to the underwriter.

Pasadena, Calif.-based Episcopal Communities & Services received an A-minus rating and stable outlook from Fitch Ratings ahead of plans to refund $67.5 million in CCRC bonds.

The Illinois Finance Authority advanced $430 Million in deals for projects planned by the University of Chicago Medical Center, Advocate Health Care Network, the Franciscan Communities, and the Big Ten Conference.

Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan announced last week he will step down by the end of the year, a move largely seen as clearing the way for a run for Detroit mayor.

The small Mendocino Coast Health Care District in Northern California has filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.