HUP profits exceed goal

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania made more than $18 million over projections for the three months ending in September, HUP officials said last week. Total profits for the third quarter were $29.2 million, or $18.5 million more than what was predicted in the hospital's budget. HUP Executive Director Bud Pittinger said the figures were part of "a healthy trend that we would like to see continue." Pittinger attributed the higher figures to the changing health care industry, a busy few months at the hospital, and efforts to reduce hospital expenses. "Fortunately for us, some of our assumptions regarding our payer mix have changed," Pittinger said Friday. Revenue for the hospital is affected by who is paying the patient's bills. During the three-month period ending in September, Medicare and Blue Cross paid higher percentages than the hospital expected. "Blue Cross is strengthening its marketing position and we will continue to benefit," Pittinger said. An increase in the amount of surgery performed at the hospital is also partially responsible for the unexpected revenue, Pittinger said. Pittinger said the hospital makes more revenue from surgery, and it was a "very busy" period full of doctors working "twelve hours a day." But the hospital will not have to decide where the extra money will go. "Every nickel is committed to upgrading HUP," said Pittinger, who added that the money will be used for "deferred maintainance and capital replacement." The hospital is a non-profit institution. Last year, after HUP brought in $1 million more between July and October than it did the year before, both Pittinger and HUP Chief Financial Officer John Wynne attributed the increase in revenue to increased admissions, lower medical malpractice costs, and the leadership of Medical School Dean William Kelley. Kelley's leadership in uniting the various departments since he arrived in October 1989 greatly attributed to the financial success of the medical center, Pittinger said at the time.

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