In the face of continuing financial headwinds for health care, Oregon Health & Science University’s board of directors on Friday adopted a break-even operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
It’s the second consecutive year that OHSU has adopted an operating budget that exactly matches expenses against expected revenues. The $4.9 billion break-even budget is in contrast with previous years, when operating margins were reinvested into the university’s health care, research and education missions.
The budget nonetheless continues to advance OHSU’s mission as the state’s public academic health center.
“OHSU provides a unique benefit to the people of Oregon, and this budget maintains our investment in the people, programs and places that support our mission,” said OHSU President Danny Jacobs, M.D., M.P.H., FACS. “Day in and day out, OHSU members treat the most complex cases while educating the next generation of health professionals, and continuing to make important scientific discoveries with the single most robust research enterprise in the state.”
The board also adopted a 2% tuition increase for the 2023-24 academic year, with no increase in university fees.
Meanwhile, construction continues on a $650 million inpatient addition to OHSU Hospital that was approved by the board in the fall of 2021 to increase OHSU’s capacity to care for Oregonians.
Project leaders are working with clinical teams to manage higher-than-anticipated construction costs due to inflation. The board will be asked at a future meeting to approve an estimated $330 million expansion of OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital using a mix of philanthropic funding through the OHSU Foundation and an expected pandemic-related reimbursement of $100 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In other business, the board heard reports on the following:
- Donn Spight, M.D., vice president for health equity, and Kat Phillips, M.H.A., updated the board on institution-wide efforts to reduce disparities in care across historically underserved populations.
- Updates on the oversight and implementation of work related to the investigation and recommendations of the law firm Covington & Burling LLP in 2021 to improve OHSU’s institutional culture.