A director for Standard & Poor's says the healthcare sector is beginning to show signs of improvement, with upgrades running ahead of downgrades so far this year, according to a report by the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

A report by the American Hospital Association found that spending on hospital care grew more slowly than spending on any other healthcare service between 2007 and 2008, according to a report by AHANewsNow.

Net income of six-hospital Memorial Healthcare System in Florida dropped by more than half in its fiscal third quarter that ended on Jan. 31, according to a report by the South Florida Business Journal.

After selling off two hospitals since September, MedCath Corp. has created a strategic options committee to consider spinning off more hospitals or other assets, according to a release from MedCath.

Online openings for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations showed the largest decline of any employment sector in February, according to a release by the Conference Board.

Practice changes required to meet the "meaningful use" criteria of the federal government's electronic medical record incentive program would lead to significant decreases in physician productivity, according to data collected by the Medical Group Management Association.

The healthcare sector saw a significant decrease in the number of private equity transactions completed last year. Pitchbook (see: www.Pitchbook.com) reported that approximately 125 deals were completed where private equity funds invested in healthcare companies in 2009. This is down…

A new report from the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy found that private spending per member for healthcare was up 15.5 percent from 2006-2008, or 7.5 percent annually. Over 75 percent of this growth occurred in hospital…

When the Great Recession hit at the end of 2008, Catholic Health Initiatives, like many other hospital systems, entered a dark time.

In its annual report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommends lawmakers increase payments to ASCs in 2011 by 0.6 percent, at the same time requiring ASCs to submit cost and quality data, according to a MedPAC fact sheet.