This month, UPMC filed its annual disclosures to the IRS, reporting gross receipts approaching $20 billion as of June 30, 2019. UPMC’s receipts — which reflect all money earned, without subtracting expenses — are roughly the size of the entire economy of Afghanistan, nearly 33 times the 2020 budget of the City of Pittsburgh, and 35% more than it reported just three years before.
The health system’s expenses have also mounted, rising from $11.6 billion in 2016 to $15.2 billion in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019.
UPMC describes itself in its latest IRS disclosures as a collection of “57 separate and distinct legal entities,” including 15 hospitals, 13 physician service groups, three skilled nursing facilities and 26 other “ancillary service and support entities.” Its hospitals start in Pittsburgh but include facilities as far afield as Altoona, Erie and Kane, in the Allegheny National Forest. UPMC reports treating 208,730 inpatients, handling 750,914 emergency room visits and 178,374 surgeries, in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2019.
That doesn’t include the mid-state system now known as UPMC Pinnacle, a $2 billion operation that joined the UPMC family in 2017, and which still files separate IRS disclosures. And like many large nonprofits, UPMC has taxable corporations in which it has a stake — 83 of which are listed on its latest IRS disclosures.
UPMC’s tax-exempt Western Pennsylvania entities have seen their assets — including accounts receivable (money they are owed), investments, equipment and real estate — grow by about 25% since 2016. Because of the way the IRS has nonprofits report their property holdings, the real estate figure doesn’t necessarily reflect the market value of the health system’s property. UPMC reported having spent $8.6 billion on land, buildings and equipment over the course of its history but claimed depreciation — the reduction of an asset’s value over time — of nearly $4.9 billion, leaving real assets reported, for accounting purposes, at around $3.7 billion.
UPMC’s workforce has grown from 59,761 in 2016, to 65,218 last year. Its total payroll now exceeds $5 billion.
CEO Jeff Romoff, the highest earner, was paid $8.97 million during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019. That’s up from $6.99 million three years before, reflecting a 28% increase. That’s three times the overall increase in pay per employee, which rose by 9% from 2016 to 2019.
UPMC remains classified as a tax-exempt, charitable institution. Since 2016, it has seen 32% growth in contributions and grants it receives — a hallmark of a charity — but at $103 million, that category of revenue makes up a tiny sliver of total receipts. Rising faster, at 58%, has been its $43 million advertising and promotions budget — a hallmark of a competitor.
Rich Lord is PublicSource’s economic development reporter. He can be reached at rich@publicsource.org or on Twitter @richelord.
This story was fact-checked by Juliette Rihl.
