Voices of U of U Health
Forward Together: Practicing Generative Financial Stewardship
This is the fifth blog in a multi-part series discussing how University of Utah Health is taking steps to become an integrated academic health system achieving unsurpassed societal impact. The series highlights six shared goals guiding our collective vision for 2030.
As an academic health system, everything we do at University of Utah Health starts with a shared purpose: advancing the health, knowledge, and well-being of the people and communities we serve. That purpose connects all of us—across every mission and at every level of our organization—and it shapes every decision we make.
Our strategic goals for the future include strengthening the financial foundation that allows this important work to thrive. We are committed to using our resources wisely, creatively, and collaboratively through generative financial stewardship.
This is more than financial management or balancing budgets. It’s about ensuring that every dollar, every decision, and every opportunity contributes to a stronger, more sustainable future for the people who depend on us and the work we do together.
What Does Generative Financial Stewardship Mean?
To understand generative financial stewardship, it helps to start with word generative. It means creating something greater than what you started with. Something that’s self-sustaining and benefits others beyond its original intent.
At U of U Health, that means investing our resources in ways that fund today’s priorities while also creating opportunities for tomorrow. It’s about generating the capacity to do more good—more care, more discovery, more education, and more service to our communities.
Generative stewardship might look like expanding access to care by growing our clinical footprint, investing in new technologies that advance patient outcomes, or funding research and education that attract top talent and strengthen our national reputation.
Each of these investments does more than serve a single purpose. They create momentum and fuel progress that strengthens our entire system and amplifies the impact of every dollar we spend.
Why This Matters Now
Health care is changing quickly. Costs are rising, reimbursements are tightening, and expectations from patients, learners, and communities are increasing. At the same time, we’re growing to serve the needs of our growing state and region.
To meet these challenges and opportunities, we’re adopting a more unified financial model that connects every mission under a single, aligned strategy. When our resources are aligned, we can move faster, act smarter, and invest more strategically in what truly matters: caring for patients, advancing research and innovation, and training the next generation of health professionals.
Generative financial stewardship helps us turn limited resources into shared opportunities.
From Financial Health to System Health
Generative financial stewardship isn’t just about the numbers. It’s about creating a system that is financially healthy, operationally agile, and mission-driven. That means helping every team member—from department chairs to frontline staff—see how their decisions connect to our larger goals. It means aligning department and unit-level priorities with systemwide objectives.
Transparency and accountability are key to that shift. New financial dashboards and performance tools are helping leaders see how their units contribute to the health of the entire system. These insights allow us to make decisions based on data, measure progress more effectively, and celebrate success more broadly.
Investing in What Sets Us Apart
Our financial strength enables us to do what differentiates us from our competitors: integrate clinical care, research, education, and community partnerships in ways that transform lives.
When we invest in new facilities, advanced technologies, and innovative care models, we expand capacity while supporting discovery and education at the same time. These investments amplify one another, driving excellence across all our missions.
This is what makes our approach generative. Every well-planned investment creates ripple effects—helping us attract world-class faculty, train exceptional students, and reach more people who need care. Each success fuels the next, strengthening our reputation and our ability to serve.
That cycle of reinvestment—putting our resources back into innovation and improvement—is what will keep University of Utah Health strong and distinctive for decades to come.
It Takes All of Us
Financial stewardship is a shared responsibility that belongs to all of us. Every leader, educator, clinician, researcher, and staff member plays a role in how we use our resources to advance our missions.
That’s why transparency and communication are central to this work. The more we understand our financial picture, the more intentional we can be in the choices we make.
Generative financial stewardship isn’t about saying no—it’s about asking how:
- How can we make this investment work harder for our mission?
- How can we stretch our resources to impact more people?
- How can today’s decisions create tomorrow’s opportunities?
When we ask those questions together, we move from managing our finances to shaping our future.
We Want to Hear from You
What ideas do you have for practicing generative financial stewardship at a system level and within your area, unit, or department? Send your ideas to Together@hsc.utah.edu.
