Indianapolis-based IU Health is addressing a shifting patient volume while also advancing multiple projects to improve efficiency and expand access at the system.
In the second quarter of 2025, IU Health saw an operating income of $132.7 million (5.4% margin) with revenues of $2.5 billion. For the six months ending June 30, IU Health’s operating revenue increased 5.8% year over year to $4.7 billion. The growth was fueled by mainly stronger outpatient volumes, but partially offset by slight declines in surgical procedures and inpatient admissions.
“In the last couple quarters, we’ve had quite a bit more from a respiratory perspective in our inpatient setting, which has had a higher length of stay,” Jenni Alvey, CFO of IU Health, said during a Becker’s CFO+Revenue Cycle Podcast episode. “That’s really crowded out some of that volume.”
Ms. Alvey said like many systems across the U.S., IU Health is seeing some traditional inpatient care shift to outpatient or observation settings.
She also pointed to ongoing workforce challenges, and said the system is working to find the proper balance between traveling and employed clinicians.
“[We’ve] been really thoughtful about how much we actually have open from a volume perspective right now,” she said. “Some of it is intentional, some is not. We still feel like we’re generally growing from where we want to be, and we’re very focused on access right now.”
To tackle these challenges, IU Health has focused on recruitment and training efforts, including partnerships with the IU School of Medicine and the IU School of Nursing.
IU Health also partnered with Indianapolis-based Ivy Tech Community College several years ago to help double its nursing class size, which Ms. Alvey said has started to pay off.
“We’re really optimistic that by partnering from a higher education perspective, we’ll be able to lean in and get the workforce here in the state that we really need and that patients deserve,” she said. “We feel good about where we’re headed from a workforce perspective.”
IU Health is also focused on multiple capital and technology initiatives, including its $4.3 billion hospital and expanded medical campus in Indianapolis, which will be completed in late 2027. The system is also preparing for a systemwide Epic electronic health record implementation, which is also scheduled to go live in 2027.
“We’re focusing on AI,” Ms. Alvey said. “We’re focusing on using our technology to really try to do everything that we can to be more productive, to be more efficient [and] to make sure people are operating at the top of their license…both the new hospital and Epic will go live in 2027, so we are very focused on doing that well.”
