By Rebecca Vesely November 03, 2009 Health Net has reported a $170.6 million charge related to the pending sale of its Northeast division to UnitedHealth Group, the insurer stated in its third-quarter earnings report. The noncash charge is for the impairment of goodwill and other assets related to the sale, Health Net said. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans November 02, 2009 Hospitals and health systems are finding that it’s not easy to unload interest-rate derivatives that backfired with the credit-market collapse. ... FULL STORY
By the Associated Press November 01, 2009 Lender CIT Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to restructure its debt while trying to keep loans flowing to the thousands of mid-sized and small businesses. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 30, 2009 Struggling St. Barnabas Health System lost its investment-grade credit rating with Moody's Investors Service, the second ratings agency to lower the West Orange, N.J., system's rating this month. Moody's announcement that it lowered six-hospital St. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 30, 2009 Credit downgrades declined among not-for-profit hospitals and health systems rated by Moody's Investors Service for the months of July through September compared with each of the prior two quarters. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 30, 2009 Credit downgrades declined among not-for-profit hospitals and health systems rated by Moody's Investors Service for the months of July through September compared with each of the prior two quarters. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 27, 2009 Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro said she expects the agency to propose legislation in the coming year to expand SEC oversight over the municipal bond market. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 26, 2009 The nation's economic and financial market woes have depleted healthcare endowments and raised questions about how best to manage portfolio risk. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 19, 2009 In roughly nine months, Community Medical Centers went from an outcast in credit markets to a sought-after investment with a surplus of eager investors. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 14, 2009 Standard & Poor's has downgraded its rating on Downey (Calif.) Regional Medical Center to C from CCC and suspended the hospital's rating after the hospital filed for bankruptcy last month and failed to release financial statements for the prior three years. ... FULL STORY
By Vince Galloro October 14, 2009 Investor-owned hospital companies have improved both their free cash flow and their leverage metrics in the past 12 months, but some of the gains attributable to labor cost control might not be sustainable, Fitch Ratings said in a new report. ... FULL STORY
By Vince Galloro October 14, 2009 Hospitals, long term care and managed care all saw strong boosts in merger-and-acquisition activity in the third quarter of 2009 compared with both the second quarter of this year and the third quarter of last year, Irving Levin Associates said. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 14, 2009 Medical Capital Holdings, the California healthcare finance company placed under control of a receiver by a federal judge, has negotiated a tentative deal to sell outstanding loans to Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Santa Ana, Calif. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 11, 2009 Children's hospital operating margins improved in 2008, though stress on safety net insurance from troubled state and household budgets threatens to weaken performance in coming years, Moody's Investors Service said in a report on the sector. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans October 01, 2009 Accretive Health, a revenue-cycle technology company partially owned by the nation's largest Catholic health system, has alerted regulators that it is preparing for a public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. ... FULL STORY
By Vince Galloro September 25, 2009 Select Medical Holdings Corp., Mechanicsburg, Pa., said it will price its initial public offering of 30 million shares in the company at $10 apiece, raising gross proceeds of $300 million. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans and Vince Galloro September 21, 2009 The financial tremors that rocked the world as giants fell a year ago continues to be felt in the administration offices of healthcare systems nationwide ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans September 21, 2009 A new look at hospital and health system investment returns in 2008 contains yet another grim snapshot of last year’s economic upheaval. ... FULL STORY
By Andis Robeznieks September 14, 2009 In the face of large operating deficits and huge investment losses, Catholic Health Initiatives has tightened its belt and is divesting itself of several hospitals. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond September 01, 2009 Health Care REIT, Toledo, Ohio, said it intends to offer 8 million shares of common stock at $40.40 per share and give underwriters 30 days to purchase up to an additional 1.2 million shares. ... FULL STORY
By WISH-TV November 04, 2009 Marion County, Ind., voters went to the polls to vote for a new Wishard Hospital. Voters decided to green light a proposed new $754 million facility. The hospital is seeking $600 million in public funding to re-build the hospital. ... FULL STORY
By KJSB Radio November 02, 2009 North Dakota Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy and Jasper Schneider, North Dakota State Director for U.S. ... FULL STORY
By Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News October 29, 2009 Voters in Deaf Smith County, Texas, will have a chance next week to approve construction of a replacement hospital in Hereford - at a cost of $28 million. But residents of Deaf Smith aren't alone. ... FULL STORY
By (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise October 28, 2009 Riverside, Calif., officials and the city's U.S. congressional delegation have helped speed the process for Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center to apply for a federal loan program, according to the city councilman who represents the area the hospital is in. ... FULL STORY
By Bloomberg.com October 27, 2009 Municipal bond defaults soared past $4 billion for the year through the end of September, driven partly by the bursting of the real estate bubble, according to the Distressed Debt Securities Newsletter. ... FULL STORY
By KCBS.com October 26, 2009 Cost overruns and reports of mismanagement have stopped a major expansion at City College of San Francisco just as San Francisco General Hospital begins construction of a new hospital funded by voter approved bonds. ... FULL STORY
By Dayton (Ohio) Daily News October 23, 2009 Kettering Health Network is shopping $100 million worth of revenue bonds that will finance the construction of a new hospital near the Mall at Fairfield Commons. ... FULL STORY
By Bloomberg October 22, 2009 U.S. nonprofit hospital groups sold or plan to conclude offerings of $2.4 billion in tax-exempt bonds this week, as borrowing costs fall and derivatives contracts that went sour become easier to cancel. ... FULL STORY
By Anchorage Daily News October 21, 2009 The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority board has unanimously approved issuing up to $35 million in conduit revenue bonds for the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation. ... FULL STORY
By Bloomberg.com October 20, 2009 The municipal market tackles its biggest week for new bond issues since June, as Minnesota and Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives lead more than $11.3 billion in planned fixed-rate offerings. ... FULL STORY
By Bond Buyer October 19, 2009 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is making a push to expand its presence in the nation’s health care sector by ramping up its long-standing FHA mortgage insurance program for hospitals. ... FULL STORY
By Deseret News October 16, 2009 A procedural public hearing Tuesday could pave the way for Intermountain Healthcare to borrow up to $22 million to build a new hospital in Davis County, Utah. ... FULL STORY
By North County Times October 15, 2009 Orange County (Calif.) Treasurer Chriss Street, in a letter made public, tells county supervisors he will not pursue a proposed loan to Tri-City Medical Center. ... FULL STORY
By Bond Buyer October 14, 2009 The Sierra Kings Health District in Reedley, Calif., last week filed for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection after discovering that the proceeds of bond sales in 2006 and 2007 were misused. ... FULL STORY
By Crain's Chicago Business October 09, 2009 Little Company of Mary Hospital said Friday that it would move forward with a $175-million overhaul of its south suburban Chicago campus, the latest sign that local hospitals are regaining their appetite for big capital projects. ... FULL STORY
By Peabody (Kanas) News-Bulletin October 09, 2009 St. Luke Hospital finished its fiscal year in-the-black. That was the news reported Thursday by St. Luke Hospital and Living Center Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Armstrong to St. Luke Hospital Auxiliary. ... FULL STORY
By Indianapolis Star October 08, 2009 Early voting began this week for the Nov. 3 special election that will determine the fate of Wishard Health Services' proposed $754 million hospital complex proposal. ... FULL STORY
By Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald October 07, 2009 Jackson County commissioners agreed Monday to secure BJC Medical Center's $1.5 million bond debt until the state attorney general authorizes the sale of the hospital to Restoration Healthcare, a Tennessee management company. ... FULL STORY
By Jamestown (N.D.) Sun October 06, 2009 Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, all D-N.D., are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to approve federal loans to help finance the construction of a new hospital in Jamestown. ... FULL STORY
By Crain's Detroit Business October 05, 2009 Nearly $322 million in fixed-rate series 2009 bonds issued for Henry Ford Health System in Detroit have been assigned an ‘A’ rating with a stable outlook today, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. ... FULL STORY