California and United States · 2024
California and U.S. hospitals compared
7 measures compare California’s comparable general acute hospitals with U.S. figures from the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). They cover capacity, inpatient volume, ownership, system affiliation and spending. Each row shows its numerator, denominator, period, source and how comparable the two figures are.
Comparability
How comparable the figures are
Only staffed-bed and ownership concepts are reasonably aligned, and even those use different hospital populations. Admissions versus discharges, system affiliation, and spending growth are contextual rather than directly comparable.
Ownership · 2024
Hospital ownership, California and United States
Share of California comparable general acute hospitals and of U.S. community hospitals.
All comparisons
7 California and U.S. comparisons
California results are computed from the validated 299-hospital HCAI cohort. U.S. results use published AHA 2024 aggregate counts or CMS NHEA. Every row retains its numerator, denominator, period, and comparability class.
Scroll horizontally to inspect methods and limitations.
| Measure | Domain | California | United States | Comparability | Period and limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staffed beds per reporting hospitalCalifornia HCAI HAFD 2024; AHA Fast Facts 2026 using the 2024 Annual Survey | capacity | 156.6146,825 / 299 | 151.4775.3K / 5,121 | aligned concept; different hospital populations | 2024California is limited to 299 comparable general acute hospitals; the U.S. denominator is the broader AHA community-hospital population, including short-term specialty hospitals. |
| Annual inpatient admissions or discharges per hospitalCalifornia HCAI HAFD 2024; AHA Fast Facts 2026 using the 2024 Annual Survey | utilization | 9,283.312,775,711 / 299 | 6,552.1833.6M / 5,121 | contextual only | 2024HCAI reports discharges while AHA reports admissions, and the hospital populations differ. The row is workload context, not a performance ranking. |
| Nonprofit hospital shareCalifornia HCAI HAFD 2024; AHA Fast Facts 2026 using the 2024 Annual Survey | ownership | 56.9%170 / 299 | 58.3%3K / 5,121 | aligned ownership grouping; different hospital populations | 2024California uses HCAI control categories for comparable GAC hospitals; the U.S. uses AHA community-hospital ownership categories. |
| Investor-owned hospital shareCalifornia HCAI HAFD 2024; AHA Fast Facts 2026 using the 2024 Annual Survey | ownership | 26.4%79 / 299 | 23.9%1.2K / 5,121 | aligned ownership grouping; different hospital populations | 2024California uses HCAI control categories for comparable GAC hospitals; the U.S. uses AHA community-hospital ownership categories. |
| State or local public hospital shareCalifornia HCAI HAFD 2024; AHA Fast Facts 2026 using the 2024 Annual Survey | ownership | 16.7%50 / 299 | 17.8%913 / 5,121 | aligned ownership grouping; different hospital populations | 2024California combines HCAI district and city/county control; federal hospitals are outside both comparison denominators. |
| Hospitals linked to a health systemAHRQ Compendium hospital linkage 2023; AHA Fast Facts 2026 using the 2024 Annual Survey | market structure | 76.3%228 / 299 | 69.7%3.6K / 5,121 | contextual only | California linkage 2023; hospital activity 2024; U.S. 2024California counts only identifier-linked records with a non-null AHRQ system ID, not every hospital present in the AHRQ linkage file. It is not an AHA Annual Survey classification; definitions and years differ. |
| 2023-2024 hospital spending or operating-revenue growthCalifornia HCAI HAFD calendar-year repeated cross-sections; CMS National Health Expenditure Accounts 2024 | spending | 7.9%150,507,928,896 / 139,482,195,195 | 8.9%1.6T / 1,501,101,928,375 | contextual only | 2023-2024California is operating revenue for changing annual comparable-hospital cohorts; the U.S. is NHE hospital expenditures. The U.S. 2023 base is implied from the published 2024 level and 8.9% growth rate. The constructs and populations are not equivalent. |
U.S. hospital expenditures
2024 · CMS National Health Expenditure Accounts
Latest complete CMS hospital cost-report PUF year
CMS page modified January 8, 2026 · CMS Hospital Provider Cost Report Public Use File
Primary public sources