Despite a $12 million loss from the University Medical Group, Saint Louis University was still able to show a $2 million increase in unrestricted net assets, or surplus, during Fiscal Year 1999.

Vice President of Business and Finance Rob Altholz explained that the loss from the University Medical Group, marketed as SLUCare, is based on two key components.

“First, what we get for physician billing is based on what Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance companies are willing to pay and they keep ratcheting down what they are willing to pay,” Altholz said.

Secondly, he explained that there were several high revenue-producing physicians who left SLUCare to enter private practice or to join the Mayo Clinic.

Another loss was an investment in Abbott Ambulance. “They had a significant loss this year and had a federal case that they lost . to make a long story short, we had to write off $8 million of our investment in Abbott Ambulance,” Altholz explained.

Fortunately, the University received more money than it had expected from its investment return, almost $20 million. This return, combined with additional revenues, resulted in a $2 million surplus.

The process of allocating a multi-million dollar budget begins again as the University creates the Fiscal Year 2002 budget.

Beginning in mid-September with information gathering, the President’s Coordinating Council will meet, without the president, on Tuesday, Oct. 31, to begin the budget. In November, University President Fr. Lawrence Biondi, S.J., will make his contributions to the budget before it is presented to the Board of Trustees for their approval in December.

“We do this early so we can announce the tuition increase as early as possible for returning students and incoming freshmen,” Altholz said.

The budget is created by analyzing the needs of the University and then finding revenue to match those needs. It is a break-even budget with the goal of having revenues minus expenditures equal zero.

In order to find those revenues, tuition must often increase. Over the last few years, tuition has increased approximately seven percent each year.

The tuition increase for next year will most likely be announced at the end of December or early January.