The University of Chicago Medical Center finished its fiscal 2014 with a higher overall surplus as investment income and gains more than made up for rising expenses across nearly all major accounts.
The not-for-profit institution reported a net surplus of $171.1 million on $1.45 billion in revenue for fiscal 2014 (PDF), up from $141.3 million on $1.34 billion in revenue a year ago. But despite the growth in revenue, UCMC owed most of the 21% improvement to its bottom line to non-operating gains, including interest and dividend income and both realized and unrealized gains on securities. The medical center nearly doubled its investment income during the year to $101.2 million, compared with $57.1 million in 2013.
That boost was enough to offset a 14.6% drop in UCMC's operating surplus, which fell to $69.4 million in the year ended June 30, down from $81.2 million last year.
The decline in the operating surplus resulted courtesy of operating expenses that continued to mount, stripping away any growth to the organization's revenue. Particularly, expenses associated with interest and the Medicaid provider tax rose 67.8% and 72.6%, respectively.
UCMC, as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, also reported providing total community benefits—including uncompensated and charity care and unreimbursed education and research—of $313.3 million. That figure was 11.5% higher than the academic medical center's 2013 amount when community benefits totaled $281 million.
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