Operating income at Pittsburgh-based health system UPMC more than doubled during the first nine months of 2021 over the same period last year, with increases also reported in operating revenue and operating margin during the period.
Total revenue from core services rose to $18.3 billion for the nine months ending Sept. 30, up 8.2% from $16.9 billion reported for the same period a year ago, as the health care system continued its recovery from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Operating income was $798 million, up from $397 million in 2020, the health system reported.
UPMC’s operating margin hit 3.7% after income tax and interest expense for the most recent nine months, up from 1.5% last year.
The health system, which operates 40 hospitals and employs more than 92,000 people, reported spending $552 million on capital expenditures in every region served by the system through Sept. 30, while hospital medical-surgical admissions and observation cases rose 5% compared to a year ago.
UPMC’s Insurance Services Division, which includes UPMC Health Plan, grew to 4.1 million members for the nine months ending Sept. 30, up by 4% in the last year.
Capital expenditures during the nine months included work on the UPMC Mercy Pavilion, which is under construction on the campus of UPMC Mercy Hospital, Uptown. The nine-story, 410,000-square-foot building will house the UPMC Vision Institute and UPMC Rehabilitation Institute and occupancy is anticipated by April 2023.
The UPMC Vision Institute will cement the system’s Western Pennsylvania lead in eye care and create a hub for UPMC’s 13 eye care centers. UPMC has 51 ophthalmologists and other eye specialists on staff, far more than another other hospital in the region, with plans to expand the staff further.
Kris B. Mamula: kmamula@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699
First Published: November 24, 2021, 11:21 p.m.
Updated: November 30, 2021, 7:53 p.m.
