The University of California’s academic health centers provided $5.9 billion in community benefit and uncompensated care in fiscal year 2023-2024.
Net community benefit expenses in FY 2023-2024 were equal to 9.4 percent of total operating expenses across UC's academic health centers.
World-Class Care Regardless of Ability to Pay
Community benefit and uncompensated care spending at UC's academic health centers in fiscal year 2023-2024 included $2 billion in investment in community health services, health professional education, community-engaged research, direct financial assistance and uncompensated hospital care for Medi-Cal enrollees. Additionally, UC’s academic health centers together delivered $2.7 billion in uncompensated hospital care to Medicare-insured patients. UC’s faculty practice groups also contributed $8 million in direct financial assistance, $206 million in uncompensated professional fees for Medi-Cal members and $1 billion for Medicare members.
UC hospitals see millions of patients each year in inpatient and outpatient settings, including patients from 99 percent of California's communities. As of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, 74 percent of inpatients at UC academic health centers are people covered by Medi-Cal or Medicare.
As such, UC academic health centers care for some of the communities and patients in most need, providing access to world-class care regardless of a person's ability to pay.
Community Engagement Programs and Activities
These programs and activities provide treatment or promote health and healing as a response to community needs.
The programs from UC academic health centers are developed with a focus on:
- Providing vital support to improve population health and achieve strategic objectives related to the quality, efficiency and affordability of health care
- Highlighting the significant resources devoted to providing access to care for low-income and other underserved patient populations
- Helping to advance knowledge through health professions education and research that benefits the public
Our community engagement programs and activities advance UC Health’s mission of patient care, research and education.
Examples of community benefits include:
- Free or discounted health services
- Unreimbursed costs for care to Medi-Cal recipients
- Health professional education
- Subsidized health services
- Research
- Financial or in-kind support for non-profit community organizations
UC Health’s community benefit report provides details on these expenses from five of the University’s academic health centers: UC Davis Health, UCI Health, UCLA Health, UC San Diego Health and UCSF Health, including the private non-profit Children’s Hospital and Research Center at Oakland.
The University also operates 21 health professional schools that provide many substantive benefits to communities throughout the state and beyond. UC Health plans to include data regarding the community benefits provided through the health professional schools in future community benefits reports.
Community Engagement and Outreach in Action
Examples of these programs at each academic health center include:
Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)
University of California’s hospitals collaborate with other local health systems to complete a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) every three years.
The CHNAs identify significant health needs of people living in the communities they serve so that health organizations can act upon unmet needs. While CHNAs are developed every three years, University of California Health’s community engagement report is published annually to provide transparency about ongoing activities.