Healthcare Insights

Largest nonprofit hospital systems

There are more than 900 healthcare systems, or integrated delivery networks (IDNs), in the U.S. Of those, more than three-quarters are nonprofit healthcare systems.

In this Healthcare Insight, we use data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product to review the largest nonprofit healthcare systems by total hospital beds across the country.

Top 20 nonprofit health systems in the U.S.

RankDefinitive IDIDN nameLocationHospital staffed bedsOwnershipExplore dataset
17265Department of Veterans Affairs (AKA Veterans Health Administration)Washington, DC25,260Governmental - FederalExplore
2981465CommonSpirit HealthChicago, IL19,730Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
34695Ascension HealthSaint Louis, MO18,230Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
44712Trinity Health (FKA CHE Trinity Health)Livonia, MI15,074Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
51057655Advocate HealthCharlotte, NC11,653Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
64716Providence St Joseph Health (AKA Providence)Renton, WA10,536Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
74713Kaiser PermanenteOakland, CA9,773Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
84694AdventHealth (FKA Adventist Health System)Altamonte Springs, FL8,313Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
94698Dignity HealthSan Francisco, CA7,925Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
106448University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (AKA UPMC)Pittsburgh, PA7,224Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
114732Banner HealthPhoenix, AZ5,860Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
12975303Bon Secours Mercy HealthCincinnati, OH5,820Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
134702CHRISTUS HealthIrving, TX5,258Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
144744Northwell Health (AKA North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System)New Hyde Park, NY5,204Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
15274173Cleveland Clinic Health SystemCleveland, OH5,100Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
161044485Corewell Health (FKA BHSH System)Grand Rapids, MI5,049Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
17577357Baylor Scott & White HealthDallas, TX4,861Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore
187027Mercy (MO)Saint Louis, MO4,791Voluntary Nonprofit - ChurchExplore
19560423University of California Health (AKA UC Health-CA)Oakland, CA4,735Governmental - StateExplore
20845346Kaiser Permanente Southern CaliforniaPasadena, CA4,622Voluntary Nonprofit - OtherExplore

Fig. 1. Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product and aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Data is sourced from the April 2023 Medicare Cost Report release. Accessed May 2023.

What is the largest nonprofit health system in the U.S.?

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest nonprofit health system with more than 25,000 beds. There are more than 160 VA hospitals and the health system is one of the largest overall in the country by beds and total hospitals. The VA is a department of the federal government.

CommonSpirit Health and Ascension Health are the next two largest nonprofit healthcare systems – each has more than 18,000 beds. They are both church-affiliated nonprofit organizations and are headquartered in the Midwest.

What is a nonprofit hospital system?

In HospitalView, we track three main types of healthcare system ownership: governmental, proprietary, and voluntary nonprofit. Governmental and voluntary nonprofit ownerships are considered non-profit healthcare systems while proprietary systems are for-profit.

What are the different types of for-profit and nonprofit healthcare systems?

Each of the three main types of healthcare system ownership are also broken out into sub-types, including the following:

Governmental

  • City
  • City-County
  • County
  • Federal
  • Hospital District
  • Other
  • State

Proprietary

  • Corporation
  • Individual
  • Other
  • Partnership

Voluntary Nonprofit

  • Church
  • Other

How many nonprofit health systems are in the U.S.?

Of the approximately 900 healthcare systems tracked in HospitalView, 705, or about 77%, are listed as governmental or voluntary nonprofit organizations.

Learn more

Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers.