As employee benefits professionals, you often know ‘who the players are’ regarding insurance carriers, pharmacy benefits managers and insurance brokers/benefits consultants. However, employee benefits are mainly (at least on a dollar basis) about healthcare and the majority of healthcare dollars — your benefits budget — go to large hospital systems and the physicians that work there.

Who are the ‘players’ in the world of hospital systems?

Here is a list of the 20 largest non-profit and the 10 largest for-profit hospital systems in America — with the number of hospitals listed at the end of each.

Non-Profit Hospital Systems

  1. Ascension Health (St. Louis) — 76
  2. Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.) — 45
  3. Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.) — 37
  4. Dignity Health (San Francisco) — 36
  5. Catholic Health Initiatives (Englewood, Colo.) — 33
  6. Adventist Health System (Winter Park, Fla.) — 31
  7. Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.) — 26
  8. Providence Health and Services (Renton, Wash.) — 26
  9. Northwell Health (Great Neck, N.Y.) — 21
  10. Banner Health (Phoenix) — 20
  11. Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas) — 19
  12. CHRISTUS Health (Irving, Texas) — 19
  13. SSM Health Care (St. Louis) — 18
  14. Intermountain Health Care (Salt Lake City) — 17
  15. Mercy Health (Cincinnati) — 17
  16. New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System (New York City) — 17
  17. Adventist Health (Roseville, Calif.) — 16
  18. UPMC (Pittsburgh) — 16
  19. UnityPoint Health (Des Moines, Iowa) — 15
  20. Hospital Sisters Health System (Springfield, Ill.) — 14
  21. Mercy (Chesterfield, Mo.) — 14
  22. Texas Health Resources (Arlington) — 14
  23. Aurora Health Care (Milwaukee) — 13
  24. Baptist Memorial Health Care (Memphis, Tenn.) — 13
  25. Franciscan Alliance (Mishawaka, Ind.) — 13
  26. Saint Joseph Health (Orange, Calif.) — 13
  27. Carolinas HealthCare System (Charlotte, N.C.) — 12
  28. Bon Secours Health System (Marriottsville, Md.) — 11
  29. Mayo Clinic Health System (Rochester, Minn.) — 11
  30. Sentara Healthcare (Norfolk, Va.) — 12
  31. Novant Health (Winston-Salem, N.C.) — 10
  32. East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System (Tyler) — 7

For-Profit Hospital Systems

  1. Community Health Systems —188
  2. Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) — 166
  3. Tenet Healthcare (Dallas) — 74
  4. LifePoint Health (Brentwood, Tenn.) — 56
  5. Prime Healthcare Services (Ontario, Calif.) — 32
  6. Universal Health Services (King of Prussia, Pa.) — 28
  7. IASIS Healthcare (Franklin, Tenn.) — 18
  8. Ardent Health Services (Nashville, Tenn.) — 12
  9. Capella Healthcare (Franklin, Tenn.) — 9
  10. Steward Health Care System (Boston) — 9
  11. National Surgical Hospitals (Chicago) — 8

This list is generated from Becker’s Hospital Review: Non-Profit Hospital List and For-Profit Hospital List.

These hospital systems generate a great deal of revenue. For example, the fifth largest non-profit hospital system, Catholic Health Initiatives, made $13.9 Billion in revenue in 2013 (according to Wikipedia) With that much revenue, Catholic Health Initiatives would be #202 on the Fortune 500 List - larger than CBS, VISA, YUM Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut), Hilton Hotels and Campbell Soup.

The No. 11 largest non-profit hospital system, Ascension Health, generated $20.5 Billion in revenue in 2015. If Ascension Health were on the Fortune 500, it would be No. 139…ahead of Tenet Healthcare (the third-largest for-profit hospital system), Southwest Airlines, Starbucks and Facebook.

Why is this data important?

As an employee benefits professional, you and your employees are the customers of these hospital systems. You are paying them for value—the health and well-being of your employees and their families. You are providing an incredible benefit to employees, and these hospital systems are providing hugely important services—cancer treatment, delivering babies, emergency surgery.

One way to be an informed healthcare consumer is to use Alight's healthcare navigation services - formerly known as Compass healthcare navigation. If you are considering new benefits for your workforce and want to save on health plan costs for your organization, learn more about healthcare navigation from Alight.

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