Fast Facts about Washington Hospitals

This section contains information most requested about Washington hospitals and health care. The reports were created by data analysts from WSHA's Decisions Support Program.

General Facts

Washington has 97 community hospitals, including:  

• 91 general or pediatric acute care
• 3 non-governmental psychiatric
• 1 rehabilitation
• 2 long-term acute care.

In terms of size and location:

• 38 are critical access hospitals (small, rural, hospitals)
• 7 others are rural
• 52 are urban
• (more...)

In terms of ownership:

• 44 hospitals are private, not for profit
• 9 are for-profit
• 42 are public district
• one is state owned
• one is county owned
• 77 are designated trauma centers (more...)
• (more...)

Hospital Beds

• In fiscal year 2009, Washington had a total of 14,304 licensed inpatient hospital beds
• Bed size ranges were:
• Fewer than 50 available beds:  44
• 50 to 100 available beds:  15
• More than 400 available beds:  4
• Washington State had the lowest number of hospital beds per population in the nation

Hospital Use in 2009

• 652,854 inpatient admissions
• 2,454,956 emergency room visits
• 11.7 million outpatient visits 
• 413,166 surgeries
• Washington has the sixth lowest admissions rate per capita in the nation
• Patients from out-of-state make up 3 percent of discharges (more...)

Community Benefits

Washington hospitals provide large amounts of unreimbursed care to low-income populations.  Hospitals in the state provided charity care costing almost $280 million
Many other types of community benefit were provided including unpaid Medicaid costs (over $514 million), educational outreach, screening programs, support groups, education of health professionals, health research, and cash and in-kind donations.   

Expenses and Charges for 2009

Washington hospitals had more than $13.5 billion in total operating expenses 
Charges to:

• 34.8 percent from Medicare
• 15.1 percent from Medicaid
• 50.1 percent from private commercial insurance
• 4.4 percent come from the uninsured
• Hospitals employ over 89,400 full time equivalent employees