Healthcare Insights
Top 25 public hospitals in the U.S.
In the United States, hospitals generally fall under one of several ownership models, including proprietary, voluntary nonprofit, and governmental ownership.
Under governmental ownership, all hospital expenses are funded by the government and taxpayer dollars. Facilities within this ownership model are also known as public hospitals.
Using 2021 medical claims and proprietary data from our HospitalView product, we’ve compiled a list of the top 25 public hospitals in the U.S. by net patient revenue (NPR): a facility’s total patient revenue minus discounts.
Top public hospitals by net patient revenue in 2021
| Rank | Hospital name | City | State | Definitive ID | Net patient revenue | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights | San Francisco | CA | 560 | $4,606,030,749 | Explore |
| 2 | University Hospital | Ann Arbor | MI | 2096 | $4,028,211,053 | Explore |
| 3 | University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | Houston | TX | 4017 | $3,982,982,020 | Explore |
| 4 | Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus | Rochester | MN | 2191 | $3,317,828,896 | Explore |
| 5 | University of California Davis Medical Center (AKA UC Davis Medical Center) | Sacramento | CA | 515 | $2,683,028,902 | Explore |
| 6 | Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center | Charlotte | NC | 3003 | $2,485,398,176 | Explore |
| 7 | UC San Diego Medical Center | San Diego | CA | 550 | $2,476,193,001 | Explore |
| 8 | University of Utah Hospital | Salt Lake City | UT | 4222 | $2,374,684,466 | Explore |
| 9 | UNC Medical Center (FKA University of North Carolina Hospitals - Memorial Hospital) | Chapel Hill | NC | 3015 | $2,361,574,427 | Explore |
| 10 | University Hospital | Madison | WI | 4493 | $2,324,088,319 | Explore |
| 11 | The University of Kansas Hospital | Kansas City | KS | 1631 | $2,296,753,778 | Explore |
| 12 | UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital | Aurora | CO | 642 | $2,226,475,972 | Explore |
| 13 | Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center | Los Angeles | CA | 395 | $2,201,926,657 | Explore |
| 14 | UAB Hospital | Birmingham | AL | 71 | $2,198,201,563 | Explore |
| 15 | Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (AKA Ohio State University Hospital) | Columbus | OH | 3140 | $2,196,385,250 | Explore |
| 16 | University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics | Iowa City | IA | 1461 | $2,111,110,331 | Explore |
| 17 | OHSU Hospital - Portland (AKA OHSU Hospital - Marquam Hill Campus) | Portland | OR | 3421 | $2,095,415,273 | Explore |
| 18 | Santa Clara Valley Medical Center | San Jose | CA | 596 | $1,966,033,269 | Explore |
| 19 | William P Clements Jr University Hospital | Dallas | TX | 3923 | $1,866,770,701 | Explore |
| 20 | Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center | Charleston | SC | 3623 | $1,848,701,998 | Explore |
| 21 | Stony Brook University Hospital | Stony Brook | NY | 2915 | $1,781,612,704 | Explore |
| 22 | VCU Medical Center Main Hospital | Richmond | VA | 4335 | $1,778,042,572 | Explore |
| 23 | UW Medical Center - Montlake | Seattle | WA | 4374 | $1,725,110,673 | Explore |
| 24 | The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute | Columbus | OH | 3138 | $1,703,968,748 | Explore |
| 25 | UCI Medical Center (FKA UC Irvine Medical Center) | Orange | CA | 470 | $1,469,859,922 | Explore |
Fig. 1 – Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s HospitalView. Data is accurate as of November 2022.
Which public hospitals have the highest net patient revenue?
The UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights in San Francisco, California, is the top public hospital with over $4.60 billion in NPR, or about 7.6% of the total NPR represented across the list.
In second place is the University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with $4.02 billion in NPR, followed by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, with $3.98 billion in NPR.
In total, these 25 hospitals earned $60.10 billion in NPR in 2021. California, the most populous state in the country, is the state most represented on this list, with six public hospitals in the top 25.
NPR is considered a key indicator of a healthcare organization’s financial strength, along with average cost per discharge, operating margin, and bad debt.
How many public hospitals are there in the U.S.?
Our data on hospitals and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) show 1,551 public hospitals are actively operating in the U.S.
These hospitals fall under one of several ownership categories based on the level of government at which the hospital is owned: city, city-county, county, federal, hospital district, state, and other.
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