Lacking support, UMC abandons effort for federal debt insurance

In Louisiana, The University Medical Center governing board has abandoned its effort to secure federal mortgage financing to back any debt necessary to complete a new teaching hospital near downtown, and a UMC consultant said the project could be headed for further changes that he did not detail. The financing decision, documented today in a letter from a Jay Shah of J.P. Morgan to a top bureaucrat at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, comes as the hospital governing board considers a final business plan, design and financing scheme for what has been projected as a $1.2 billion, 424-bed complex. The UMC board is scheduled to meet next Wednesday. Chairman Bobby Yarborough has promised a completed business plan and financing arrangement by September.