Penn’s schools, programs, and centers run on billions in revenue each year, most of it thanks to the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Last year, Penn raked in over $17.3 billion in total revenue, and the Health System was responsible for over two-thirds of that figure. Patient revenue alone — by far the largest contributing category to the University’s total earnings — netted over $10 billion in fiscal year 2025.
The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with Penn’s Executive Vice President Mark Dingfield and UPHS Chief Financial Officer Julia Puchtler for a closer look at how Penn Medicine drives the University’s finances.
“Penn Medicine” serves as an umbrella term, encompassing both UPHS and the Perelman School of Medicine. Despite the two institutions serving vastly distinct roles at Penn, both are financially tied to the University at large.
Puchtler explained that Penn Med students “benefit tremendously” because the school is “highly integrated” into the Health System. She added that UPHS was “ultimately created to support” Penn Med.
“We really view it as not a choice about whether or not we should do that,” she said. “It is the mission of the health system.”
That integration means that UPHS revenue — which made up 67% of the University’s total consolidated operating revenue in FY25 — is already built into the University’s general financial statements.
“When you look at the financial statements of the University of Pennsylvania, they include all of the revenues and expenses of the University of Pennsylvania Health System,” Puchtler said. “It’s fully integrated in that way.”
Puchtler added that the Health System’s profits directly support Penn’s operations, including research operations, clinical enterprise, and teaching programs.
According to Puchtler, annual support for those three components amounts to roughly $600 million, plus an additional $200-250 million directed each year toward labs and research centers.
Since 2005, total operating revenue and UPHS revenue have moved in near-lockstep with each other. Both increased by roughly $2 billion between 2006 and 2010, and have risen sharply since 2016. Between 2016 and 2024, University operating and UPHS revenue grew by roughly $8 billion and $6 billion, respectively.
In over 20 years, the only diversion from that pattern came between 2012 and 2013, when a dip in net patient service revenue caused total UPHS revenue to stagnate even as overall University operating revenue continued to trend upward.
Puchtler told the DP that UPHS has a “responsibility to maintain a solid, steady financial performance on behalf of the overall University.”
She added, “While we’re two different components of the same enterprise, our Health System performance will have such a significant impact on the University overall.”
Despite that reliance, Dingfield said that Penn’s academic budget is designed to withstand fluctuations in UPHS revenue.
“Our academic budget needs to be balanced, irrespective of the performance of the health system,” he said.
To manage that relationship, both Dingfield and Puchtler explained that the University and Penn Med leadership maintain close, ongoing coordination.
Dingfield said the core financial planning group includes himself and Puchtler alongside Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Colleen O’Neal and Senior Vice Dean for Finance and Operations at Penn Med Christopher Masotti.
Puchtler added that the group’s coordination extends beyond annual budget meetings, describing the work as a “throughout-the-year process.”
In recent years, large construction projects, COVID-19, and significant growth in Health System revenues have required more collaboration between the four parties.
“I think our relationship and areas where we cooperate have increased and grown closer over time,” Dingfield said. “It’s been an area of tremendous growth — growth physically, growth in revenues — and so it’s just required us to stay really, really closely connected.”
Staff reporter Samantha Dasika contributes to data and enterprise reporting and can be reached at dasika@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies neuroscience.
Staff reporter Mishal George covers University finances and can be reached at george@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies journalism and political science. Follow her on X @mishalgeorgee.