Top 50 Hospitals by Net Patient Revenue

Until the 20th century, most Americans did not go to hospitals for diagnosis or treatment of illnesses. Patients were treated in their own homes, with the exception of those with no relatives or who were already near death. It wasn’t until the late 1890s, when medical technology advanced and gave physicians improved ability to diagnose patients and control infectious disease, that hospitals became attractive to the general public. Even then, it was only wealthier families that turned to hospitals for care.

Now, in 2019, hospitals are the primary care centers for the majority of Americans. Hospitals are home to care providers of various specialties as well as advanced diagnostic technology, and account for approximately one-third of all medical spending in the U.S.—about $1.1 trillion.

Despite the massive amount Americans are spending at hospitals, admissions have dropped over 10 percent in the past 35 years. Rather than not having any options, patients and families have a plethora of care centers to choose between: from retail clinics to outpatient surgery centers, home health agencies to assisted living facilities. Additionally, although hospitals have sufficient resources to treat most patients, Americans are increasingly wary of the environment. Rather than being centers of recovery, many patients associate hospitals with stress and mortality. As technology improves and alternative care centers become increasingly efficient, hospitals will likely downsize or convert to focus on specific inpatient and emergency department services.

Many hospitals are bringing in billions of dollars in net patient revenue. All of the top ten hospitals reported a 2017 net patient revenue of over $3 billion (up from 7 of 10 in 2016), and all of the top 25 brought in more than $2 billion (up from 22 of 25 in 2016). Combined, the top 50 hospitals earned more than $123 billion in net patient revenue.