Nearly 70% of hospitals now belong to a health system — 7 things to know

The U.S. is home to nearly 400 health systems, with most hospitals now part of a larger network. The American Hospital Association’s latest data offers a snapshot of how the system landscape continues to evolve.

Seven things to know:

1. There are 397 health systems in the U.S. These systems include both multi-hospital networks and single-hospital systems with multiple affiliated care sites.

2. 68% of hospitals are system-affiliated. Out of 6,093 hospitals nationwide, 4,157 are part of a health system.

3. 77% of all hospital beds are within systems. That includes 703,731 of the 913,136 total hospital beds across the U.S., according to the AHA.

4. More than half of systems are relatively small. Fifty-three percent of systems operate with 1,000 or fewer beds, while 219 systems have just 1 to 5 hospitals.

5. Only a handful of systems operate at scale.  Just 6 systems have 100 or more hospitals, and only 2% of systems nationally fall into this category.

6. Health system size varies widely. Systems range in size from 1 to 157 hospitals and between 34 to more than 39,000 hospital beds.

7. The number of systems has grown steadily over time:

• In 1940: At least 50 systems existed, all nonprofit or Catholic.
• In 1960: The first investor-owned system emerged.
• By 1980: AHA had identified 267 systems.

Click here for more AHA data on U.S. hospitals and health systems.

The post Nearly 70% of hospitals now belong to a health system — 7 things to know appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.