Healthcare Insights
Number of hospital operating rooms by U.S. region
Hospital operating rooms (ORs) are critical providers of the space and equipment needed for surgeries and intensive procedures. Operating rooms can vary in type, including hybrid, integrated, and digital. Hospitals also vary in the number of operating rooms that they have and the area of space that ORs take up.
With data from Definitive Healthcare’s HospitalView product, we’ve created a map showing the number of hospital operating rooms located in each region of the U.S.
Hospital operating rooms by U.S. region
Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product and is aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Accessed in April 2023.
| U.S. region | Number of hospital operating rooms | Average number of ORs per hospital | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast | 9,981 | 7 | Explore |
| Midwest | 9,540 | 6 | Explore |
| Northeast | 6,317 | 8 | Explore |
| West | 5,264 | 6 | Explore |
| Southwest | 4,580 | 6 | Explore |
| U.S. Territories | 188 | 5 | Explore |
Fig. 1. Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product and is aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Accessed in April 2023.
Which region has the most operating rooms?
The Southeast region has the greatest number of hospital operating rooms in the U.S. With a total of 9,981 hospital ORs and an average of seven ORs per hospital, the Southeast accounts for 28% of all hospital ORs in the country.
In second place is the Midwest region with 9,540 hospital ORs, accounting for 27% of all ORs. Hospitals in the Midwest have six ORs per hospital, on average.
The Northeast region comes in third place with 6,317 hospital operating rooms and an average of eight ORs per hospital. This region makes up 18% of the total hospital ORs in the U.S.
Of the top 25 hospitals with the most operating rooms, 21 of those hospitals are in the Southeast, Midwest, or Northeast region. Our data shows that most patients tend to seek surgical care in the regions in which they reside. Since these three regions are home to some of the largest metropolitan areas with large patient populations, they would need more ORs to accommodate them.
How many operating rooms are in a hospital?
In total, there are 35,870 operating rooms across all hospitals in the U.S., with an average of six ORs per hospital.
What is in an operating room?
An operating room typically contains an operating table, an IV pole and bag, a light, a monitor, and an anesthesia cart. Patient monitoring equipment includes a blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, electrodes, and an anesthesia mask.
Hospitals containing operating rooms are also equipped with an operating management system. An operating management system is software that oversees OR-related data. The system helps to schedule procedures and allocate resources.
Equipment available in a hospital operating room may also vary by type of OR. For example, a hybrid operating room will allow for the presence of imaging equipment, such as CT, MRI, or C-arm.
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