By Melanie Evans | March 07, 2011
| Print Magazine
Aging baby boomers and the nation's healthcare reform push may drive more demand for square footage to provide medical care, and efforts to curb health spending could mean providers increasingly tap into their real estate for cash. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans | February 28, 2011
| Print Magazine
Build America Bonds, the temporary financing option that helped lower debt costs for healthcare borrowers before it expired in December, enjoy the endorsement of the president, who would revive the bonds if he could. But hospitals are moving to resurrect other now-defunct credit programs. FULL STORY »
By Joe Carlson | February 21, 2011
| Print Magazine
Catholic hospitals care for one of every six inpatients in the U.S., but mounting financial pressures are forcing many of them into deals that may feel like Faustian bargains that pit their Catholic identities against their ability to survive. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans | January 31, 2011
| Print Magazine
Five major health systems have put up to $50 million behind their faith that executives can pick the winners as emerging companies vie for business during the sweeping regulatory and market changes expected under healthcare reform. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans | January 10, 2011
| Print Magazine
Households sharply curbed spending in 2009 on clinic visits, hospital care and other medical services as the Great Recession wore on and many Americans saw paychecks and health benefits shrink or vanish. FULL STORY »
By Joe Carlson | December 13, 2010
| Print Magazine
Hospitals in 2009 provided $75.6 billion worth of care for which they were not fully compensated in 2009, a 10% increase from the $68.8 billion reported the year before, according to figures provided by the American Hospital Association. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn | November 29, 2010
| Print Magazine
A federal appeals court in New York has overturned a Vermont law seeking to restrict the use of prescription drug data in the marketing of pharmaceuticals to physicians. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans | November 22, 2010
| Print Magazine
Insurers paid significantly more to some hospitals and less to others in eight U.S. markets, research released last week found. Economists point to the results as a possible sign that hospitals wield market clout to raise prices at a time when the sector is lobbying for more leeway under antitrust... FULL STORY »
By Joe Carlson | November 15, 2010
| Print Magazine
Time was, the prospect of converting Catholic hospitals into dividend-paying businesses drew the sharp ire of workers and religious clerics alike. FULL STORY »
Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn., and some of its creditors have agreed to extend the maturity on $1.5 billion it owes under term loans that funded its acquisition of Triad Hospitals in 2007, according to a Community news release. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans | November 01, 2010
| Print Magazine
Venture capital investments slowed during the final summer months, but healthcare services drew more venture capital, and investment insiders say market changes under health reform could draw even more interest. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans | October 11, 2010
| Print Magazine
The weak economy continues to dampen expectations for one major source of capital for hospital construction or pricey technology: philanthropy. FULL STORY »
Renal-care provider DaVita said it intends to offer $1.45 billion in senior notes and intends to use the proceeds to purchase or redeem its outstanding 6 5/8% senior notes that are due in 2013 and 7 1/4% senior subordinated notes due in 2015. FULL STORY »
By Vince Galloro | September 20, 2010
| Print Magazine
On the surface, supporters and critics of healthcare reform could cite the performance of hospital stocks this year in their arguments. It just depends on when the argument is being made. FULL STORY »
Tenet Healthcare Corp., Dallas, said that it has completed its offering of $600 million in new notes due in 2020 with an interest rate of 8%. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans | August 09, 2010
| Print Magazine
Not-for-profit hospital and health systems in 2009 regained most of the prior year’s investment losses, but portfolios have not fully recovered and annual returns, on average, have been roughly flat since 2007, according to one snapshot of the industry. FULL STORY »
As proposed deals in Boston, Detroit and Youngstown, Ohio, show, investor-owned hospital companies are interested in markets that don't fit their traditional targets, and healthcare reform is a prime reason, according to a report by Moody's Investors Service. FULL STORY »
The municipal bond market will face more scrutiny, and oversight will increase for credit analysts and municipal advisers under the financial overhaul bill that cleared Congress. FULL STORY »
Vanguard Health Systems, Nashville, said it is offering $225 million of new notes due in 2018 to finance its planned acquisition of six-hospital Detroit Medical Center. FULL STORY »
Wall Street analysts are taking note of the impending labor strike of more than 12,000 hospital nurses in Minnesota, and they don't like what they see. FULL STORY »
Hospitals and health systems may have recovered from the acute distress of the credit crisis, but investment and debt strategies that proved riskiest during the market tumult continue to cast a shadow over balance sheets. FULL STORY »
Northwest Community Healthcare said in a lawsuit its former investment adviser, Morgan Stanley, violated the Illinois hospital’s policy against derivatives to leverage its fixed-income portfolio and concealed how much of the portfolio was invested in risky mortgages. Erica Platt, a... FULL STORY »
Not-for-profit hospitals and health systems that finance construction, technology and other capital projects with tax-exempt, or municipal, bonds face expanded disclosure of financial and operating information, starting Dec. 1. The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to tighten and... FULL STORY »
U.S. Renal Care, Plano, Texas, said it has signed a definitive agreement for a new credit facility to finance its purchase of Dialysis Corporation of America, Linthicum, Md. FULL STORY »
Accretive Health priced its stock at $12 per share for its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, below the $14 to $16 the revenue-cycle technology company first proposed, but by midday the stock hovered near $13.50. FULL STORY »
Standard & Poor's, New York, has given a B rating to $600 million in new debt being raised by Capella Healthcare, Franklin, Tenn., a privately held hospital operator. The debt includes a $100 million asset-backed credit facility and $500 million in unsecured notes. FULL STORY »
The boards of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina and Pitt County Memorial Hospital on Tuesday approved fiscal year 2011 operational plans that provide the strategic direction and financial resources needed to guide and fund the health system next year. FULL STORY »
The University of Missouri’s Board of Curators approved issuing $30 million in revenue bonds to finance construction of a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. FULL STORY »
Children’s Hospital of Boston is preparing to issue nearly $342 million in municipal bonds, in a refinancing move that will allow the institution to continue to capitalize on rock-bottom interest rates. FULL STORY »
Moody's Investor Services announced Wednesday it is putting Mount Sinai Medical Center's long-term bond ratings on ``watch list for possible upgrade.'' FULL STORY »
A national debt rating firm has maintained Akron Children's Hospital's strong A1 bond rating and revised the hospital's credit outlook from negative to stable. FULL STORY »
University Medical Center and other public hospitals that serve the uninsured could wind up financially pummeled by the new national health insurance law. FULL STORY »
St. Vincent's Hospital has filed a proposed closure plan with the New York State Department of Health. If state officials accept the plan, St. Vincent's will likely file for bankruptcy tomorrow if not earlier, according to a source that has been briefed on the plans by hospital management. The... FULL STORY »
Two factors that may have contributed to the decision by management and trustees of Detroit Medical Center to seek a sale to for-profit Vanguard Health Systems were the drop in operating income in 2009 and ongoing cash flow problems. FULL STORY »
Rhode Island hospitals have been hit hard by a recession that has shrunk endowments, threatened government aid and brought in more patients who don’t have insurance or can’t pay their bills. FULL STORY »
Three Allegheny County agencies and a Pennsylvania housing agency are possible victims in a nationwide bond-financing, bid-rigging scheme, according to documents filed in a New York federal criminal case. FULL STORY »
Medicaid and Medicare funds have run out for Idaho's hospitals and nursing homes, due to state budget cuts. Many of these healthcare providers will still provide care to Medicare and Medicaid patients, but the state will not reimburse them for the treatments until Idaho's next fiscal year begins in... FULL STORY »
Faced with a diminishing number of outpatient visits, the parent company of Cape Cod and Falmouth hospitals has launched a marketing campaign to win back consumers FULL STORY »
KINGSBURG, Calif. -- For the past two decades, this quaint Swedish town -- rich in heritage, tradition and pancakes -- has desperately tried to hold on to its half-century-old hospital and all the memories that come with it. FULL STORY »
The parent companies of Des Moines' two largest hospitals bet - and lost - millions of dollars on interest rates during the global financial meltdown in 2008, records show. FULL STORY »
When the Mayans envisioned the world coming to an end in 2012 — at least in the Hollywood telling — they didn't count junk bonds among the perils that would lead to worldwide disaster. Maybe they should have. FULL STORY »
A down economy and some federal stimulus funds mean significant savings in the cost of building the $754 million new Wishard hospital complex, according to hospital officials. FULL STORY »
Investors in search of better returns poured $7.8 billion into high-yield municipal bond funds last year, pushing assets to a two-year high. They may start experiencing losses as early as this year as default risks grow. FULL STORY »
By Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise | March 09, 2010
Prime Healthcare Services Inc. today is expected to move toward foreclosure against Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center which has been trying for months to secure a loan to pay off its debt. FULL STORY »
St. Louis-based Ascension Health on Wednesday launches the first piece of its $1.34 billion new-money and restructuring deal that will raise funds for projects across its network, while also allowing the system to further reduce risk exposure and lower its maximum annual debt service. FULL STORY »
