Fast Facts

Public health care systems are the foundation of California’s safety net

SNI’s members are California’s 17 public health care systems, including county-owned or affiliated hospitals and the five University of California academic medical centers. 

Together, they play a central role in the state’s safety net, delivering care to all who need it, regardless of insurance status, immigration status, ability to pay, or other circumstance.
Photo Credit: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

Across public health care systems, nearly 60% of patients identify as persons of color and 37% of patients identify as Hispanic or Latino

Essential and comprehensive services

Although they account for only 8% of California hospitals, SNI’s member systems play an outsized role in caring for Medi-Cal patients, uninsured patients, and communities with complex health and social needs. They:

  • Serve more than 3.4 million patients annually
  • Operate in 15 counties where more than 80% of the state’s population lives
  • Provide nearly half of all hospital care to the remaining uninsured in California
  • Provide 36% of all Medi-Cal and uninsured hospital care statewide
  • Operate over half of all California’s top-level trauma and burn centers
  • Provide over 13 million outpatient visits each year
  • Operate more than 150 outpatient clinics
  • Train nearly half of all new doctors in hospitals across the state
  • Employ nearly 137,000 individuals

Public health care systems provide 36% of all Medi-Cal and uninsured hospital care statewide

In the communities public health care systems serve:

  • 150,000 individuals experience homelessness
  • 3.4 million individuals experience food insecurity
  • 3.7 million individuals live below the federal poverty line
  • 2.3 million individuals remain uninsured

SNI’s member systems are leveraging their comprehensive services and connections with other county departments and community organizations to meet patients’ social needs.