Healthcare Insights

Top 25 government hospitals by number of staffed beds

In the United States, there are several different ownership models for hospitals. These models include proprietary, voluntary nonprofit, and governmental ownership.

Governmental hospitals are facilities that are run by the U.S. federal, state, or local government. Government hospitals are typically exclusively funded by the government as well as taxpayer dollars. Because of this, government hospitals are also sometimes referred to as public hospitals.

Using Definitive Healthcare’s HospitalView product, we’ve compiled a list of the top 25 largest government hospitals ranked by the number of staffed beds according to the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database.

Government-owned hospitals with the most staffed beds

RankHospital nameCityStateOwnership# of staffed bedsExplore dataset
1Jackson Memorial HospitalMiamiFLGovernment - County1,504Explore
2Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Mary’s CampusRochesterMNGovernment - City1,143Explore
3Atrium Health Carolinas Medical CenterCharlotteNCGovernment - Hospital District1,134Explore
4UAB HospitalBirminghamALGovernment - State1,129Explore
5DSH - MetropolitanNorwalkCAGovernment - State1,004Explore
6University HospitalAnn ArborMIGovernment - Other951Explore
7The University of Kansas HospitalKansas CityKSGovernment - Other940Explore
8Huntsville HospitalHuntsvilleALGovernment - Other904Explore
9FMC ButnerButnerNCGovernment - Federal900Explore
10Santa Clara Valley Medical CenterSan JoseCAGovernment - County827Explore
11UNC Medical Center Chapel HillNCGovernment - Other811Explore
12UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus HeightsSan FranciscoCAGovernment - State809Explore
13John Sealy HospitalGalvestonTXGovernment - State804Explore
14Parkland Health DallasTXGovernment - Hospital District801Explore
15Mayo Clinic Hospital - Methodist CampusRochesterMNGovernment - City794Explore
16Western State HospitalLakewoodWAGovernment - State771Explore
17University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterHoustonTXGovernment - State739Explore
18University of Iowa Hospitals & ClinicsIowa CityIAGovernment - State732Explore
19Stony Brook University HospitalStony BrookNYGovernment - State725Explore
20VCU Medical Center Main HospitalRichmondVAGovernment - Other725Explore
21Biloxi VA Medical CenterBiloxiMSGovernment - Federal716Explore
22Sarasota Memorial HospitalSarasotaFLGovernment - County713Explore
23University Hospital JacksonMSGovernment - State697Explore
24Erlanger Baroness Hospital ChattanoogaTNGovernment - Hospital District691Explore
25Spartanburg Medical CenterSpartanburgSCGovernment - County668Explore

Fig. 1. Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s HospitalView product. Data on staffed beds is from the January 2023 Medicare Cost Report release and represents the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Data is accurate as of February 2023.

Which government hospitals have the most staffed beds?

The government hospital with the most staffed beds is Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. Jackson Memorial Hospital is owned by Miami-Dade County through the Public Health Trust and has 1,504 staffed beds. Only four out of the top 25 hospitals are owned by the county that they operate in, with the second county-owned hospital not appearing until number 10 on this list.

The government hospital with the second most staffed beds is Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Mary’s Campus, located in Rochester, Minnesota. This facility has a total of 1,143 staffed beds and is owned by the city of Rochester. It is one of only two city-owned hospitals on this list.

The third-place government hospital is Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. This hospital has 1,134 staffed beds and is the flagship facility for the health system Atrium Health. The hospital is part of a hospital district, which is a public entity that provides community-based healthcare services to residents throughout a designated geographical area. Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center is a part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, a municipal hospital authority established under North Carolina’s Hospital Authorities Act. This hospital is one of three hospitals owned by a hospital district on this list.

The average number of staffed beds among the top 25 government hospitals is 865. Additionally, nine hospitals on the list are state-owned, making it the most common type of government ownership on this list, followed by “other” (meaning any other form of government ownership) with five hospitals.

What are the different types of government ownership?

There are several different types of ownership when it comes to government hospitals, the largest being federal, meaning that it is owned and operated by the federal government.

There are about 200 of these federal government hospitals operating in the United States, and they are overseen by the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Veterans Health Administration (VA).

State-owned hospitals are owned by the state governments where the hospital resides. In addition, government hospitals can be owned by counties as well as by cities. Hospital districts can also own a hospital, and hospital districts must be established by state legislation.

Why are government/public hospitals important to healthcare?

Government/public hospitals are important to healthcare because they often offer healthcare services to specific populations, such as active military members, or their local community. In addition, because these facilities are paid for by the government and tax dollars, they can often offer their services free of charge or heavily discounted.

Furthermore, these facilities help improve overall health by helping these patients prevent other health conditions from occurring through early interventions.

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