Largest hospital systems in the U.S. in 2024, by number of hospitals

As of January 2024, the Hospital Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tennessee, was the largest health system in the United States, with a total of 219 hospitals. HCA Healthcare is also the largest U.S. health system when ranked by the number of beds and, as expected, by net patient revenue.

Hospitals in the United States

Currently, there are approximately 6,120 hospitals in the United States. Looking over the past decades, this figure was constantly decreasing. For example, there were nearly 7,000 hospitals in 1980. There are some 5.3 million persons employed in U.S. hospitals in full-time. Contrary to the decrease in the number of hospitals, employment has been increasing steadily. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. hospitals generate a total gross output of around 1,075 billion U.S. dollars.

The largest portion of U.S. hospitals are non-profit facilities. A smaller share includes private-owned for-profit hospitals. In most cases, these hospitals are part of hospital chains. For-profit hospitals developed especially in the 1990s, with the aim to gain profit for their shareholders. The Hospital Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the U.S. for-profit hospital operator with the highest number of hospitals.