Facts about California's Public Health Care Systems
California’s 21 public health care systems provide a range of comprehensive services including primary care, outpatient specialty care, emergency and inpatient services, rehabilitative services, and in some instances, long-term care.
Though accounting for just 6% of hospitals in the state, these public health care systems:
- Serve more than 2.85 million patients annually
- Operate in 15 counties where more than 80% of the State’s population lives
- Provide 40% of all hospital care to the remaining uninsured in California
- Provide nearly 35% of all hospital care to Medicaid (Medi-Cal) beneficiaries in the communities they serve
- Represent a diverse patient population with 35% of patients speaking a primary language other than English
- Serve as the primary care provider for more than 500,000 Medi-Cal enrollees who have gained coverage since 2014
- Operate over half of all California’s top-level trauma and burn centers
- Provide over 10 million outpatient visits each year
- Operate more than 200 outpatient clinic facilities
- Train half of all new doctors in hospitals across the state
- Employ more than 91,000 individuals
Serving Patients with Social Needs
In public health care system communities:
- 123,000 individuals are homeless
- 3.4 million individuals experience food insecurity
- 3.8 million individuals live below the federal poverty line
- 2.3 million individuals remain uninsured
