Parent organization for a collection of hospitals and other facilities providing medical care
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.
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.[34] There were 6,146 hospitals in the United States in 2020, of which 2,240 were managed by the largest 45 hospital networks.[35][36]
Hospital networks headquartered in the United States
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:[44][45]
^Harry A. Sultz and Kristina M. Young (2006). Health Care USA: Understanding Its Organization and Delivery. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
^ ab"2019 Annual Report to Shareholders"(PDF). HCA Healthcare. Retrieved 2021-01-26. 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.
^Mosqueda, Mars Jr. (15 October 2019). "Metro Pacific Hospitals raises $684m from KKR and GIC". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 3 October 2021. Last year, the group served 3.8 million outpatients and 194,000 inpatients with more than 3,200 beds.
United States
Germany
Malaysia
India
Taiwan
China
Singapore
Philippines
United Kingdom