Photo: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
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.
Public health care systems care for a diverse patient population:
- Nearly 60% of patients identify as persons of color
- 37% of patients identify as Hispanic or Latino
- One in five patients report a primary language other than English
Though accounting for just 6% of hospitals in the state, these public health care systems:
- Serve more than 3.7 million patients annually, a 30% increase since 2014
- Operate in 15 counties where more than 80% of the State’s population lives
- Provide nearly 40% of all hospital care to the remaining uninsured in California
- Provide over 35% of all hospital care to Medicaid (Medi-Cal) beneficiaries in the communities they serve
- 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 85,000 individuals
Serving Patients with Social Needs
In public health care system communities:
- 123,000 individuals experiencing homeless
- 3.4 million individuals experiencing food insecurity
- 3.6 million individuals who live below the federal poverty line
- 2.5 million individuals who remain uninsured
