Healthcare Insights
Trends at independent hospitals in the U.S.
The top 10 largest healthcare systems in the U.S. own more than 20% of all U.S. hospital beds. As the number of healthcare systems consolidates through merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, it is becoming less common for hospitals to remain independently owned.
This Healthcare Insight uses data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product to analyze independent hospitals and compare them to healthcare system-owned and affiliated hospitals.
What is an independent hospital?
Independent hospitals are not owned or operated by an integrated delivery network (IDN) or a larger healthcare system. In the HospitalView product, we identify independent hospitals as those that do not have a network affiliation listed. Our data and research teams use a number of resources to verify and update healthcare facility affiliations daily.
How many U.S. hospitals are independent?
As of May 2025, HospitalView tracks 1,428 independent hospitals, which is nearly 20% of the 7,450 total U.S. hospitals.
How many beds do independent hospitals have on average?
Independent hospitals have 63 staffed beds on average, compared to an average of 146 beds for healthcare system owned hospitals.
What is the average net patient revenue for independent hospitals?
The average U.S. hospital net patient revenue is about $240.4 million, according to the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Independent hospitals average a net patient revenue of $101.9 million, and the average for healthcare system-owned hospitals is $279.6 million.
What are the average expenses for independent hospitals?
Since independent hospitals are about half the size of healthcare system owned hospitals in terms of bed size, their expenses reflect similar differences. For example, the average operating expenses for health system hospitals is $282.7 million compared to $115.2 million at independent hospitals.
Information technology (IT), medical supply, salary, and contract labor expenses at independent hospitals are only a portion of the same expenses at IDN hospitals.
| Expense | Independent hospitals | IDN-owned hospitals | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total operating expenses | $115,231,854 | $282,674,834 | Explore |
| IT expenses | $3,981,659 | $11,882,943 | Explore |
| Medical supply | $6,073,433 | $19,185,234 | Explore |
| Salary | $72,839,254 | $128,629,762 | Explore |
| Contract labor | $5,443,123 | $10,524,102 | Explore |
Fig. 1. Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product and aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Accessed May 2025.
How many doctors work at independent hospitals?
On average, 107 affiliated providers work at independent hospitals. For IDN-owned hospitals, the average is 239 providers.
What is the average patient satisfaction score for independent hospitals?
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is a patient satisfaction survey that uses a 5-star rating scale. The average HCAHPS score is 3.3.
For independent hospitals, the average score is 3.7, compared to the average score of 3.2 for healthcare system-owned hospitals.
What is the difference between an independent hospital and a nonprofit hospital?
Independent hospitals are not owned or operated by a larger healthcare system or network of hospitals. They can be either for-profit or nonprofit, meaning they are either investor owned (for-profit) or they are considered a charity where they may pay less taxes but also tend to be more scrutinized by policymakers (nonprofit).
Are all independent hospitals nonprofit hospitals?
In analyzing hospital ownership compared to hospital profit status, 47.9% of healthcare system owned hospitals are nonprofit and 39% of independent hospitals are nonprofit.
Proprietary corporations, such as HCA Healthcare, own nearly one-third of hospitals affiliated with a health system and 43.3% of independent hospitals are government operated facilities, such as Parkland Health, one of the largest independent hospitals.
| Profit status | % of IDN hospitals | % of independent hospitals | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Governmental | 15.00% | 43.30% | Explore |
| Proprietary | 29.40% | 13.50% | Explore |
| Voluntary nonprofit | 47.90% | 39.00% | Explore |
Fig. 2. Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product and aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Accessed May 2025.
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