IU Health operating earnings climb on strong patient volumes

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Indiana University Health, the state’s largest health care system, saw earnings from operations climb 6.4 percent, to $583 million last year, as patient volume rose in most categories.

The Indianapolis-based system, which operates 15 hospitals, along with surgery and urgent care centers, posted financial results Thursday evening.

Overall, IU Health said operating revenue edged up about 1 percent, to $6.3 billion, last year. That came as the system registered increases in patient admissions (115,354, up 3 percent), inpatient days (631,698, up 2 percent) and inpatient and outpatient surgeries (109,525, up 2 percent).

Visits to the emergency room dropped less than 1 percent, to 454,398. Radiological exams dropped almost 3 percent, to 1.18 million.

The system said investment gains due to a strong stock market helped push total earnings to $989 million, up from $261.1 million in 2016, a year in which IU Health posted large, one-time adjustments due to hospital divestitures in northern Indiana.

The occupancy rate, or the number of staffed beds, edged up to 67.6 percent, from 66.6 percent, even as the system added about 10 beds, bringing it to 2,560 beds.

“IU Health made substantial progress on its operational and cultural goals in 2017, even as we engaged in a broader cross-section of the community through care, education and service,” CEO Dennis Murphy said in a written statement.

IU Health is a not-for-profit hospital system created in 1997, which traces its roots to the early 1900s.

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