With 9.9 million residents, Los Angeles is the most populated county in the United States. The population is highly diverse, with a higher proportion of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, foreign-born residents, and adults with limited or no English proficiency than California as a whole.

To provide more perspective on the unique challenges facing Los Angeles and other large health care markets in California, CHCF asked the Center for Studying Health System Change to produce a regional market study in six areas: Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside/San Bernardino, Sacramento, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay Area. These reports are published as part of CHCF's California Health Care Almanac.

Key findings of the Los Angeles report include:

• The hospital market is fragmented, with no single health system dominating
• A gap is growing between the financially advantaged hospitals that serve an affluent and insured population, and financially disadvantaged hospitals that serve a largely low-income population
• Many area physicians are in solo or small, single-specialty group practices
• The safety net in Los Angeles is well developed and stronger than it was 10 years ago

The complete issue brief and an executive summary are available through Document Downloads. An addendum to the brief is included under Related CHCF Pages.