The numbers tell an important story, and California’s hospitals and ERs feel the impact, 24/7. 

4

Every 4 seconds, someone enters a California emergency room seeking treatment. The average wait time in a California emergency room is now more than 4 hours.

11 Million

The number of Californians who received life-saving care in one of California’s ERs in 2009. During the same year, more than 484,000 babies were born in California’s community hospitals.

70

More than 70 hospitals and emergency rooms in California have closed in the past 10 years.

6.7

California’s 6.7 million Medi-Cal patients are the largest users of hospital emergency rooms, due to a decreasing number of physicians who will accept Medi-Cal’s poor reimbursement rates.

430

California’s 430 hospitals provided nearly $1 billion of community benefit services in 2009, including preventive care programs for children, seniors and the homeless; free health and dental clinics for the uninsured; and community health screenings like mammography and diabetes, among others.

500,000

The number of highly-skilled workers that California’s hospitals employ.

$65 Billion

The amount California hospitals spend each year on goods and services.

$12 Billion

The amount of uncompensated care California’s community hospitals provided to patients in 2009. More than $8 billion of those losses were due to critically low reimbursement rates from California’s Medi-Cal program and the federal Medicare program.

$4,669

The amount of the average annual health insurance premium in for a single person in 2009. The average annual premium for family coverage was $13,027.

1 in 5

One out of every five Americans experiences a mental illness or substance-use disorder each year.