ARCHIVED: Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals, 2019

The American Hospital Association conducts an annual survey of hospitals in the United States. The data below, published in 2019, are a sample from the 2017 AHA Annual Survey (FY 2017).

Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals, 2019

The American Hospital Association conducts an annual survey of hospitals in the United States. The data below, from the 2017 AHA Annual Survey, are a sample of what you will find in AHA Hospital Statistics, 2019 edition. The definitive source for aggregate hospital data and trend analysis, AHA Hospital Statistics includes current and historical data on utilization, personnel, revenue, expenses, managed care contracts, community health indicators, physician models, and much more.

AHA Hospital Statistics is published annually by Health Forum, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association. To order print copies of AHA Hospital Statistics, call (800) AHA-2626 or visit the AHA online store. An interactive online version is also available.

NOTE: Starting with the 2019 edition of AHA Hospital Statistics, the AHA will no longer employ its own methodology to classify hospitals as registered. As a result of this change, the number of hospitals in this edition of Hospital Statistics increased by approximately 700, with 400 of those being community hospitals.

For further information, contact the AHA Resource Center at (312) 422-2050 or rc@aha.org.

Total Number of All U.S. Hospitals	6,210
Number of U.S. Community¹ Hospitals	5,262
Number of Nongovernment Not-for-Profit Community Hospitals	2,968
Number of Investor-Owned (For-Profit) Community Hospitals	1,322
Number of State and Local Government Community Hospitals	972
Number of Federal Government Hospitals	208
Number of Nonfederal Psychiatric Hospitals	620
Other² Hospitals	120

Total Staffed Beds in All U.S. Hospitals	931,203
Staffed Beds in Community¹ Hospitals	798,921
Total Admissions in All U.S. Hospitals	36,510,207
Admissions in Community¹ Hospitals	34,305,620
Total Expenses for All U.S. Hospitals	$1,060,933,249,000
Expenses for Community¹ Hospitals	$966,204,239,000

Number of Rural CommunityHospitals	1,875
Number of Urban CommunityHospitals	3,387

Number of Community Hospitals in a System³	3,494
Number of Community Hospitals in a Network⁴	1,749

¹Community hospitals are defined as all nonfederal, short-term general, and other special hospitals. Other special hospitals include obstetrics and gynecology; eye, ear, nose, and throat; long term acute-care; rehabilitation; orthopedic; and other individually described specialty services. Community hospitals include academic medical centers or other teaching hospitals if they are nonfederal short-term hospitals. Excluded are hospitals not accessible by the general public, such as prison hospitals or college infirmaries.

²Other hospitals include nonfederal long term care hospitals and hospital units within an institution such as a prison hospital or school infirmary. Long term care hospitals may be defined by different methods; here they include other hospitals with an average length of stay of 30 or more days.

³System is defined by AHA as either a multihospital or a diversified single hospital system. A multihospital system is two or more hospitals owned, leased, sponsored, or contract managed by a central organization. Single, freestanding hospitals may be categorized as a system by bringing into membership three or more, and at least 25 percent, of their owned or leased non-hospital preacute or postacute health care organizations. System affiliation does not preclude network participation.

⁴Network is a group of hospitals, physicians, other providers, insurers and/or community agencies that work together to coordinate and deliver a broad spectrum of services to their community.

Updated January 2019

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