The $416 million gift Indiana University Health made to IU’s School of Medicine late last year exceeds the health system’s charitable contributions to the university over the previous decade. In fact, the gift, made without any publicity, is bigger than the combined total of all charitable contributions IU Health has made during the 11 years since it changed its name from Clarian Health to IU Health.
Indiana House speaker:$416M 'gift' from IU Health to IU 'raises eyebrows'
The health system’s public relations consultant has so far refused to answer questions about why the system’s leaders decided last year to make such an enormous and unusual gift.
Charitable gift raised eyebrows
The donation has raised questions among state lawmakers and health care advocates, especially because neither the health system nor the university announced it was given.
Instead, the health system listed the gift as a “contribution to related entity” on its balance sheet in a financial report IU Health files with the state. The health system identified the recipient of the contribution on page 51 of the 53-page report. The donation was first reported by the Indianapolis Business Journal.
Critics of the health system, including Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, have said the gift and lack of fanfare that typically surround such windfalls “raises eyebrows.”