Northwestern Medicine

Legal name: Northwestern Memorial HealthCare

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363152959
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3129264237
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Hospital, General

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,773,030,061
Expenses
$1,945,972,760
Assets
$16,786,135,308
Liabilities
$12,459,242,410

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

People named in this filing

  • Group Number 5878 (Per regulation 1.6033-2(D)(5), This data is found on the group return)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to put patients first in all that we do. We exist to make people better by making medicine better. We are all caregivers or someone who supports a caregiver. We are here to improve the health of our community. At Northwestern Medicine, our mission is to put patients first in all that we do. Each day, we work toward this goal by providing excellent and safe care. To provide the best possible experience for our patients, we focus on transparency and value. Understanding how we measure the quality of our care may help you: Choose where to get care or recommend care to family and friends.

What it reported doing in 2024

Northwestern memorial healthcare (nmhc) is the not-for-profit corporate direct or indirect parent of northwestern memorial hospital (nmh), northwestern lake forest hospital (nlfh), central dupage hospital association (cdha), delnor-community hospital (dch), valley west community hospital (vwch), kishwaukee community hospital (kch), marianjoy rehabilitation hospital & clinics (mjhrh), northern Illinois medical center (nimc), palos community hospital (pch), northwestern medical faculty foundation, central dupage physician group, and their various affiliates as listed in this form 990, schedule r. Working together under the brand northwestern medicine, nmhc and northwestern university feinberg school of medicine (feinberg) share a vision to transform medical care through clinical innovation, breakthrough research and academic excellence to make a positive difference in people's lives and the health of our communities. Nmhc provides comprehensive inpatient care at eleven hospital facilities. Among these eleven facility locations, three hospitals in the northwest suburbs operate under a single license as northern Illinois medical center. As the parent of the northwestern memorial health system, nmhc provides governance support and centralized services to the system as a whole. Nmhc is positioned to advance groundbreaking work that can only be accomplished with the resources of an integrated academic medical health system. As an integrated academic medical health system, nmhc can take action beyond providing clinical care. Working with scientists and experts in public health, we are striving to determine root causes and develop solutions to eradicate some of the most widespread, growing and complex public health issues facing the united states today - from chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, to the underlying causes of obesity, poor mental health and persistent violence in our communities. Nmhc supports some of the nation's most advanced research programs, led by physician scientists at feinberg, who are pushing the boundaries of science and medicine through nationally recognized research programs as well as entirely new scientific disciplines that are pioneering directions for preventing and curing disease.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 86% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 84
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 86.4%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 72.7%; rating input score 73; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 29.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.63; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.74; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 83% of revenue deployed · 86.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 22 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.7B in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 24 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 51 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.