The university has projected annual budget shortfalls for the Georgetown University Medical Center of more than $20 million for each of the next five years, according to university financial plans.

GUMC has a history of finishing in the red; it has run deficits of more than $15 million each year since 1995, THE HOYA reported in 2004. In 2000, the center sold the university’s hospital to MedStar Health in an attempt to ease its debt burden.

Today, the Medical Center encompasses the School of Nursing and Health Studies, the School of Medicine, the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization.

According to the university’s Financial Plan 2013-2016, the medical center was the largest contributor to the university’s overall deficit in fiscal year 2011, with expenses running $22.1 million over revenues.

University services, which include the Offi ce of the President and several other administrative offi ces, also ran a deficit in 2011, ending the year $5.4 million in the red. But due to surpluses from the main campus and law center, the university’s overall deficit was cut to $12.8 million.

Howard Federoff, executive vice president for health sciences and executive dean of the School of Medicine, said that the medical center is taking measures to reduce costs.

“GUMC is developing and implementing a new fiscal structure … that responds to the declining availability of federal research funding and other external factors while guiding us toward sustainable growth and maximizing opportunities for our success,” Federoff wrote in an email.

According to university spokeswoman Stacy Kerr, GUMC is run efficiently despite the continued deficits.

“The investments we are making are core to our mission and identity as a world-class research university,” Kerr wrote in an email. “In an environment of increased competition for federal research money and expanding external costs, Georgetown University Medical Center operates at a highly competitive and efficient level.”

According to the financial plan, the high cost of employee compensation and a drop-off in the number of grants and contracts for sponsored research the medical center receives are major contributors to the deficits.

Compensation, which includes employee salaries and fringe benefits, is GUMC’s largest spending area and is projected to cost $135.1 million in 2012.

Grants and contracts make up 46 percent of the center’s revenue, and the availability of funding from federal sources such as the National Institutes of Health has suffered in the recent economic downturn. Federal funding for NIH is expected to remain stagnant for fiscal year 2013, according to Associate Vice President for Federal Relations Scott Fleming.

According to the university, revenues from a 3.5 percent tuition hike in the School of Nursing and Health Studies, graduate schools and the School of Medicine will help offset costs.

Other efforts to increase revenue and cut expenses include focusing on high-impact biomedical research, strengthening innovative education programs, developing strategic and philanthropic partnership, enhancing financial policies and expanding graduate programs.

With these changes, revenue is expected to increase by 5.6 percent in 2012 and 7.9 percent in 2013, though this increase will fail to close the more than $24 million budget gaps projected for 2012 and 2013.

“We are creating a more efficient organization that will enable us to decrease our deficit in a unique and challenging fiscal climate, develop a sustainable financial future and continue to strive for excellence in the academic and research fields,” Federoff wrote.