Healthcare Insights
Top 20 largest California health systems by number of beds
California is the largest state in the U.S by population. Its 40 million residents rely on thousands of health centers across the state for their medical needs. Many of these healthcare facilities are part of broader integrated delivery networks (IDNs) so that patients’ needs can be properly addressed across a wide range of specialties.
Using Definitive Healthcare’s HospitalView product, we created a list of the 20 IDNs with the most beds in California. Only California hospital facilities were included in the analysis; some IDNs may be headquartered outside of the state.
The number of staffed beds within a facility or IDN provides a useful metric to measure its patient capacity.
| Rank | IDN name | # of staffed beds | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaiser Permanente | 9,470 | Explore |
| 2 | University of California Health (AKA UC Health-CA) | 6,665 | Explore |
| 3 | CommonSpirit Health | 5,680 | Explore |
| 4 | Sutter Health | 3,863 | Explore |
| 5 | Providence St Joseph Health (AKA Providence) | 3,475 | Explore |
| 6 | Adventist Health (AKA Adventist Health System/West) | 3,030 | Explore |
| 7 | Prime Healthcare Services | 2,217 | Explore |
| 8 | Cedars-Sinai Health System | 1,972 | Explore |
| 9 | Sharp HealthCare | 1,967 | Explore |
| 10 | Universal Health Services | 1,691 | Explore |
| 11 | AHMC Healthcare | 1,543 | Explore |
| 12 | Department of Veterans Affairs (AKA Veterans Health Administration) | 1,534 | Explore |
| 13 | Prospect Medical Holdings | 1,498 | Explore |
| 14 | Scripps Health | 1,429 | Explore |
| 15 | Tenet Healthcare | 1,323 | Explore |
| 16 | Stanford Medicine | 1,265 | Explore |
| 17 | Los Angeles County Health Services (FKA Los Angeles County Department of Health Services) | 1,237 | Explore |
| 18 | Community Medical Centers (AKA the Community Medical Centers Healthcare Network) | 1,196 | Explore |
| 19 | MemorialCare Health System | 1,195 | Explore |
| 20 | ScionHealth | 1,173 | Explore |
Fig. 1. Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s HospitalView product and aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Data is sourced from the Medicare Cost Report release. Accessed August 2025.
Which California IDNs have the most staffed beds?
Non-profit Kaiser Permanente, known for its vertically integrated model of care delivery, has the most staffed beds in California, with more than 9,470 beds. This Oakland-based health system also has facilities in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia and runs the largest managed care organization in the United States. As a closed network system, Kaiser’s hospitals exclusively serve members of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.
The University of California Health comes in second place on our list with 6,665 staffed beds.
In third place is CommonSpirit Health, with about 5,680 staffed beds in California according to our data. This Catholic health system is headquartered in Chicago and currently operates numerous hospitals in the state of California. CommonSpirit was formed through the merger of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health in 2019, creating one of the largest healthcare systems in the country. The IDN’s healthcare facilities in California are operated through Dignity Health, which has numerous locations across the western United States.
What are the largest hospitals in California?
Determining the largest hospitals in California depends on the metric used. A few common ways to define the largest hospitals are by number of staffed beds, number of inpatient discharges, net patient revenue (NPR), and square footage.
As of the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a non-profit academic medical center located in Los Angeles, was the largest hospital in California based on number of staffed beds and number of discharges.
However, several hospitals in California are widely recognized for their size, comprehensive services, and reputation, including Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, University of California Davis Medical Center, Community Regional Medical Center, and more.
Understanding the value of staffed beds counts
The number of staffed beds is a vital measure in healthcare operations, essential for assessing hospital capacity, planning healthcare delivery, and ensuring IDNs meet patient needs. For IDNs, staffed beds indicate the network's inpatient care capacity across affiliated hospitals. It also helps gauge bed utilization rates, reflecting how effectively hospitals use available capacity. High utilization rates may signal overcrowding and challenges in admitting new patients.
Comparing staffed bed numbers across hospitals and healthcare systems also supports benchmarking and performance evaluation. IDNs can assess their capacity against industry standards and regional benchmarks, identifying areas for improvement. Additionally, analyzing bed utilization trends can inform strategic planning and addressing areas of unmet need within the network.
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