UNM's School of Medicine is projecting a $3 million loss by the end of the fiscal year.
The UNM Hospital is down 21 percent in projected surgeries.
At the UNM Board of Regents meeting, these two projections caused concern for regents president Jamie Koch, who asked people to "put all the facts on the table," during a mid-year financial report at the finance and facilities committee meeting on Monday.
The Board of Regents began talking about the loss the hospital incurs because of uncompensated care.
Steve McKernan, CEO of UNMH, said 26 percent of the care the hospital provides is uncompensated.
The national average for a nonprofit hospital is 5 percent, and for a profit hospital, the national average is 2 to 3 percent, he said.
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He said the UNM Hospital does not turn away any patients.
Uncompensated care is provided to patients who have no third party, such as Medicare or insurance, to pay the bill, said Nancy Brandt, chief financial officer for the hospital.
She said uncompensated care came up at the meeting, because the regents were looking for another funding source to account for the money the hospital is projected to lose.
Marjorie Goldstein, assistant dean for finance at the School of Medicine, said it costs $27 million to care for patients who are unable to pay the bill.
If the hospital was paid for the care provided to uncompensated care patients, Goldstein estimated the school would make $15 million to $20 million in revenue.
Regent Mel Eaves said the hospital has become the primary charity hospital for uncompensated, indigent care, and patients who can pay for their care do not get services.
Uncompensated care causes losses for the medical school and the hospital.
The School of Medicine pays the salary of physicians who work in the hospital, because they are faculty at the school.
It could be difficult to retain faculty and hire more faculty due to their projected losses.
"We need money to come in that door to pay that salary," Goldstein said.
She said less money coming in puts a big financial strain on the school.
Brandt said the drop in surgery, though she couldn't quote an exact number, would cause a significant loss of revenue for the hospital.
David Harris, vice president for administration, said the hospital and the school will be able to manage for the next year or two, but bigger problems will need to be brought to the New Mexico State Legislature.
"At some point, we need to ask the Legislature and counties to pay for the people they're sending us," he said.
