By the Numbers: California Hospital and Health Care Facts
The numbers tell an important story about California's community hospitals and the challenges they face.
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.
13 Million
The number of Californians who received life-saving care in one of California’s ERs in 2009.During the same year, more than 500,000 babies were born in California’s community hospitals.
40
More than 40 hospitals and emergency rooms in California have closed in the past 10 years.
7.5 Million
The number of Medi-Cal patients who sought care inahospital emergency room last year 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.
$13 Billion
The amount of uncompensated care California’s community hospitals provided to patients in 2011. 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.
3.5 Million
In 2011, 3.5 million patients where admitted to Calfiornia’s community hospitals. Nearly 47 million people were treated as outpatients.
1 in 5
One out of every five Americans experiences a mental illness or substance-use disorder each year.

