HUP posts $24.7 million surplus for summer

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania generated a surplus of over $24.7 million for the months of July and August, Medical Center officials said yesterday. Medical Center officials had budgeted a surplus of $11.7 million, but HUP's profits exceeded projections by $13.1 million, said John Wynne, HUP's chief financial officer. Of that $13.1 million, $11.7 million came in the form of third-party settlements – payments from Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross, Wynne said. These settlements, which he compared to tax refunds received by private citizens, cannot be planned for. The remaining $1.4 million is "not what we would call significant" for an organization of HUP's size, Wynne said. In addition, HUP made another $3 million during the same period in the form of returns on its investment portfolio. Medical Center officials, though, downplayed HUP's performance. Wynne said that if the payments from Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross were not counted, HUP would have a $13 million surplus. HUP generated a $19 million surplus for the same period last year, he said. Medical Center spokesperson Lori Doyle added that HUP's surplus would not have looked nearly as impressive if HUP used the same accounting system as the rest of the University. "If we used the same accounting system as the rest of the University we would actually be losing money," Medical Center spokesperson Lori Doyle said, adding that, unlike the rest of the University, HUP doesn't include capital expenditures with the rest of its expenses. "If we weren't making that much we would be in deep trouble." In addition to HUP's ambitious expansion plans, which include buying the Civic Center site across 34th Street from the hospital and converting it first into an out-patient care facility, then into a new HUP, the hospital is in the midst of an eight-year, $241 million campaign to improve its current facility. HUP's surplus funds will be used to help fund capital projects – including the improvement campaign and the construction of the swingspace building behind the Medical School, HUP Executive Director Wilbur Pittinger said.

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