Hospital network explained

A hospital network is a public, non-profit or for-profit company or organization that provides two or more hospitals and other broad healthcare facilities and services. A hospital network may include hospitals in one or more regions within one or more states within one or more countries. A hospital network has one headquarter, usually within one of the regions served by the network facilities.^[1] (The term hospital system or health care system is used more broadly to define the organization of people, institutions, and resources that deliver health care services to meet the health needs of a region or country.)

History

Some of the earliest hospital networks were affiliated with charitable, religious organizations. The Catholic Church established a hospital network in Medieval Europe that was vastly improved from the merely reciprocal hospitality of the Greeks and family-based obligations of the Romans. These hospitals were established to cater to "particular social groups marginalized by poverty, sickness, and age," according to historian of hospitals, Guenter Risse.^[2]

In the late 20th century hospital networks were established to make delivery of healthcare more efficient and to share specialized medical services and physicians across the network. To avoid financial losses due to shrinking reimbursements and rising costs as well as improving quality of care and avoid duplication of services, hospitals may consolidate certain services at one hospital. However, patients may need to travel farther if those services are no longer offered at their local hospital.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Largest hospital networks

Hospital networks that do not have reliable sources may not be included; these are not necessarily complete lists.

Ranked by capacity

This is a list of hospital networks with a capacity of more than 2,500 beds.

Hospital network	Country	Beds	As of year	Ref
HCA Healthcare	United States	48,855	2019	^[6]
Alberta Health Services	Canada	40,905	2024	^[7]
Helios		38.129	2021	^[8]
Ascension	United States	27,843	2020	^[9]
Asklepios Kliniken		27,090	2019	^[10]
IHH Healthcare		15,000		^[11]
Veterans Health Administration	United States	13,000		^[12]
Apollo Hospitals	India	10,261	2020	^[13]
Chang Gung Medical Foundation		10,050		^[14]
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	United States	8,800	2022	^[15]
First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University	China	7,000		^[16]
Cleveland Clinic	United States	6,026	2019	^[17]
Advocate Aurora Health	United States	5,862	2021	^[18] ^[19]
University Hospitals Ruhr Bochum		5,645	2021	^[20]
Manipal Hospitals India	India	5,000		^[21]
SingHealth		4,814	2021	^[22]
National Healthcare Group		4,683	2019	^[23]
West China Medical Center	China	4,300		^[24]
Fortis Healthcare	India	4,000	2020	^[25]
Charité		3,099	2021	^[26]
Metro Pacific Hospitals		3,200	2018	^[27]

Ranked by staff

This is a list of hospital networks with at least 20,000 staff.

Hospital	Country	Staff	As of year	Ref
Veterans Health Administration	United States	330,000
HCA Healthcare	United States	309,000	2024	^[28]
Kaiser Permanente	United States	219,930	2024	^[29]
CommonSpirit Health	United States	175,000	2024	^[30]
Alberta Health Services		133,050	2024	^[31]
Helios		125,000	2021	^[32]
AdventHealth	United States	96,000	2024	^[33]
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	United States	100,000	2024
Advocate Aurora Health	United States	155,000	2024	^[34]
Mayo Clinic	United States	70,000	2019	^[35]
Cleveland Clinic	United States	80,642	2024
Apollo Hospitals	India	62,939	2020
IHH Healthcare		55,000
Johns Hopkins Medicine		53,352	2018	^[36]
Asklepios Kliniken		36,265	2019
SingHealth		31,570	2021
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust		23,000	2019	^[37]

By country

United States

The largest hospital networks headquartered in the United States are included in the table below. The name, headquarters location, number of hospitals, funding type and founding year are given for each network.^[38] There were 6,146 hospitals in the United States in 2020, of which 2,240 were managed by the largest 45 hospital networks.^{[39] [40]}

Hospital networks headquartered in the United States

Network	HQ city	State	No. of hospitals in network	Funding	Founded
United States Department of Veterans Affairs	Washington, D.C.	Washington, D.C.	171 (2021)^[41] ^[42]	public (Federal)	1989
HCA Healthcare	Nashville	Tennessee	184 (2021)	for-profit	1968
Ascension Health	St. Louis	Missouri	139 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	1999
CommonSpirit Health	Chicago	Illinois	137 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	2019
Community Health Systems	Franklin	Tennessee	84 (2021)	for-profit	1985
Trinity Health	Livonia	Michigan	92 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	2000
LifePoint Health	Brentwood	Tennessee	84 (2021)	for-profit	1999
Tenet Healthcare	Dallas	Texas	65 (2021)	for-profit	1969
Vibra Healthcare	Mechanicsburg	Pennsylvania	45 (2021)	for-profit	2004
Providence St. Joseph Health	Renton	Washington	52 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	2016
Atrium Health	Charlotte	North Carolina	40 (2021)	non-profit	1940
AdventHealth	Altamonte Springs	Florida	50 (2021)	non-profit (Seventh-day Adventist Church)	1973
Baylor Scott & White Health	Dallas	Texas	52 (2021)	for-profit	1897
Bon Secours Mercy Health	Cincinnati	Ohio	50 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	2018
Prime Healthcare Services	Ontario	California	45 (2021)	for-profit	2001
Sanford Health	Sioux Falls	South Dakota	46 (2021)	non-profit	1894
Mercy Health	St. Louis	Missouri	40 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	1871
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	40 (2021)	non-profit	1893
Kaiser Permanente	Oakland	California	39 (2021)	consortium of for-profit and non-profit	1945
MercyOne	Clive	Iowa	25 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	1998
Steward Health Care System	Dallas	Texas	37	for-profit	2010
Christus Health	Irving	Texas	60 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	1999
Avera Health	Sioux Falls	South Dakota	35 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	1897
Ardent Health Services	Nashville	Tennessee	30 (2021)	for-profit	1993
Great Plains Health Alliance	Wichita	Kansas	29 (2021)	non-profit	1950
Texas Health Resources	Arlington	Texas	27 (2021)	non-profit faith based	1997
Advocate Aurora Health	Downers Grove	Illinois	26 (2021)	non-profit	2018
Banner Health	Phoenix	Arizona	30 (2021)	non-profit	1999
NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System	New York City	New York	26	non-profit Presbyterian	2015
Providence Health & Services	Renton	Washington	52 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	1859
Indian Health Service	Rockville	Maryland	46 (2021)	public (Federal)	1955
Quorum Health Corporation^[43]	Brentwood	Tennessee	22 (2021)	for-profit	2015
Universal Health Services	King of Prussia	Pennsylvania	26 (2021)	for-profit	1979
Intermountain Healthcare	Salt Lake City	Utah	24 (2021)	non-profit	1970
Sutter Health	Sacramento	California	24 (2021)	non-profit	1921
Community Hospital Corporation	Plano	Texas	29 (2021)	for-profit	1996
Mayo Clinic Health System	Rochester	Minnesota	20 (2021)	non-profit	1992
Northwell Health	New Hyde Park	New York	23 (2021)	non-profit	1997
SSM Health Care	St. Louis	Missouri	23 (2021)	non-profit Catholic	1872
Baptist Health	Memphis	Tennessee	22 (2021)	non-profit Baptist	1955
UnityPoint Health	West Des Moines	Iowa	39 (2021)	non-profit	1993
Ballad Health^[44]	Johnson City	Tennessee	21 (2021)	non-profit	2018
Hospital Sisters Health System	Springfield	Illinois	15	non-profit Catholic	1978
BJC HealthCare	St. Louis	Missouri	15	non-profit	1993
Allina Health	Minneapolis	Minnesota	12	non-profit	1983^[45]

Notes:

Canadian headquartered hospital networks

• Alberta Health Services, Province of Alberta, 106 hospitals
• Scarborough Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, 3 hospitals
• Sinai Health System, Toronto, Ontario, 2 hospitals
• Toronto East Health Network
• Trillium Health Partners, Toronto, Ontario, 3 hospitals
• Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, 3 hospitals
• University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, 4 hospitals
• William Osler Health System, Brampton, Ontario, 2 hospitals
• Grey Bruce Health Services, Grey County, Ontario and Bruce County, Ontario, 6 hospitals
• Halton Healthcare, Greater Toronto Area, 3 hospitals
• London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, 2 hospitals
• McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, 7 hospitals

Irish headquartered hospital networks

A new grouping of hospitals was announced by the Irish Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly TD in May 2013, as part of a restructure of Irish public hospitals and a goal of delivering better patient care:^{[46] [47]}

• Dublin North East (subsequently renamed RCSI Hospitals)
• Dublin Midlands (subsequently renamed Dublin Midlands Hospital Group)
• Dublin East (subsequently renamed Ireland East Hospital Group)
• South/South West (subsequently renamed South/Southwest Hospital Group)
• West/North West (subsequently renamed Saolta University Health Care Group)
• Mid West (subsequently renamed UL Hospitals Group)

United Kingdom

• National Health Service (England)
• NHS Scotland
• NHS Wales
• Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland

Other

• Aga Khan Health Services, HQ in France
• Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France; 44 hospitals
• Chang Gung Medical Foundation, Taiwan, 8 hospitals
• Hirslanden Private Hospital Group, Switzerland, 17 hospitals

See also

• Health system
• History of hospitals

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fast Facts on US Hospitals. American Hospital Association. September 2, 2007.
2. Book: Risse, Guenter B . Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals . limited . April 1999 . Oxford University Press . 59 . 0-19-505523-3.
3. http://www.acgov.org/board/district5/news/2001/summit.htm Summit's maternity facility to be folded into Alta Bates
4. Web site: History of Hospitals. Penn Nursing. November 16, 2020.
5. Book: Harry A. Sultz and Kristina M. Young. Health Care USA: Understanding Its Organization and Delivery. Sudbury, MA. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. 2006.
6. Web site: 2019 Annual Report to Shareholders. 2021-01-26. HCA Healthcare. At December 31, 2019, we owned and operated 179 general, acute care hospitals with 48,443 licensed beds... At December 31, 2019, we operated three psychiatric hospitals with 412 licensed beds..
7. Web site: About AHS. 2024-06-26.
8. Web site: Anzahl der Krankenhausbetten des Klinikunternehmens Fresenius Helios bis 2021 . 2022-10-01 . Statista . de.
9. Web site: Consolidated Statistical Information. 2021-01-26. Ascension.
10. https://www.asklepios.com/dam/jcr:02ae2b01-9496-493b-b5a8-b487c412f218/Key%20figures_31.12.2019.pdf
11. Web site: IHH Healthcare Berhad. 2021-01-26. www.ihhhealthcare.com.
12. News: Steinhauer. Jennifer. 2020-03-15. The V.A. Prepares to Back Up a Health Care System Threatened by Coronavirus. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-01-26. 0362-4331.
13. Web site: Annual Report 2019-20. 2021-01-26.
14. Web site: Overview. 31 May 2020. chang-gung.com.
15. Web site: By the Numbers: UPMC Facts and Figures. 23 June 2022. upmc.com.
16. Web site: 2015-07-03. The world's biggest hospital « Week In China. 2019-08-12. Week In China.
17. Web site: Facts & Figures. 2020-10-24. clevelandclinic.org.
18. Web site: AHD Hospitals by Bed in WI. 2021-05-11. AHD.com.
19. Web site: Advocate Health Fact Sheets. 2021-05-11. AHD.com.
20. Web site: 760.000 Fälle pro Jahr . 2022-10-01 . www.uk.rub.de.
21. Web site: About Manipal Hospitals, Bangalore India. 2021-01-25. www.manipalhospitals.com. en.
22. Web site: 31 March 2021. https://www.singhealth.com.sg/about-singhealth/newsroom/Documents/[Web%20Version%20SingHealth%20DukeNUS%20Annual%20Report%2020-21.pdf SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre Annual Report 2020/2021]. 8 September 2021. singhealth.com.sg.
23. Web site: NHG Corporate Yearbook FY2019. 2021-01-25. corp.nhg.com.sg.
24. Web site: Top 10 largest hospitals in the world. www.healthcareglobal.com. 2021-01-26. 2019-07-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20190723222828/https://www.healthcareglobal.com/top10/top-10-largest-hospitals-world. dead.
25. Web site: FHL Annual Report 2019-20. 2021-01-25.
26. Web site: Berlin . Charité-Universitätsmedizin . Facts & Figures . 2022-10-01 . www.charite.de . en.
27. Web site: Mosqueda . Mars Jr. . Metro Pacific Hospitals raises $684m from KKR and GIC . Nikkei Asia . 3 October 2021 . 15 October 2019 . Last year, the group served 3.8 million outpatients and 194,000 inpatients with more than 3,200 beds..
28. Web site: Who We Are. HCA Healthcare. 2024-05-10.
29. Web site: Fast facts. 2021-01-26. www.about.kaiserpermanente.org. en.
30. Web site: Working at CommonSpirit Health. CommonSpirit Health. 2024-05-10.
31. Web site: About AHS . 2024-06-24 .
32. Web site: Fresenius Helios FSE . 2022-10-01 . www.fresenius.com.
33. Web site: AdventHealth Locations. AdventHealth. 2024-05-10.
34. Web site: We're compelled by what's possible. 2021-05-11. Advocate Aurora Health. en.
35. Web site: About Us - Mayo Clinic Facts. 2021-01-25. Mayo Clinic. en.
36. Web site: December 2020. The Impact of Johns Hopkins in Maryland.
37. Web site: Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust Annual Report and Accounts 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
38. Web site: 100 of the largest hospitals and health systems in America in 2019. Becker's Hospital Review. 2019. November 6, 2020.
39. Web site: Fast Facts about US hospitals. American Hospital Association. November 12, 2020. 2020.
40. Web site: Healthcare fast facts – largest hospital systems in America. Alight Health Solutions. November 16, 2020., date of information uncertain
41. Web site: Ranking the Nation's 25 Largest Healthcare Systems by Employees. Dark Daily. 25 August 2010 . November 7, 2020., American Hospital Directory, Modern Healthcare
42. Web site: 100 of the largest hospitals and health systems in America 2021. Becker's Hospital Review. 2021. March 7, 2022.
43. News: Community Health Spinoff to Focus on Smaller Markets. The Wall Street Journal. 2015-11-09. 0099-9660. Christopher. Weaver. Cassandra. Jaramillo.
44. Web site: About Us. Ballad Health. November 12, 2020.
45. Web site: 52 great health systems to know in 2018. Beckers Hospital Review. November 18, 2020. 2018.
46. News: Minister Announces Hospital Groups and Publishes The Framework for Smaller Hospitals. Department of Health. Department of Health (Ireland). 15 May 2013. 15 May 2013.
47. Web site: Six hospital groups 'most fundamental reform in decades'. 14 May 2013. Irish Medical Times. 27 May 2019.