The U.S. healthcare industry is much bigger than hospitals and drug makers. It includes health insurers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical device makers, the distributors that move medicines and supplies, hospital operators, pharmacies, laboratories, healthcare technology firms and a long list of service businesses.
Knowing which companies are largest, and what each one actually does, is useful to anyone working in or around the market: healthcare vendors, device and technology companies, staffing firms, consultants, suppliers, sales and marketing teams, and investors or researchers studying the sector.
The U.S. Healthcare Market at a Glance
Healthcare is one of the largest parts of the U.S. economy. According to the CMS National Health Expenditure data (opens in a new tab), national health spending grew 7.2% to $5.3 trillion in 2024, or $15,474 per person, equal to 18.0% of gross domestic product. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (opens in a new tab) counted about 18,520,700 health care jobs in August 2026 (preliminary).
U.S. healthcare market at a glance
- $5.3TNational health expenditure
- 18.0%Health spending as a share of GDP
- $15,474Health spending per person
- 18.5MHealth care jobs
That spending flows through thousands of organizations, from small practices to some of the largest companies in the country. Revenue at the very top of the industry runs to hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
What Is a Healthcare Company?
A healthcare company is a business whose main activity is paying for, delivering, making or supporting healthcare. That includes companies that provide:
- Health insurance and benefits management
- Medical care, through hospitals, clinics and surgery centers
- Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology medicines
- Medical devices, equipment and supplies
- Wholesale distribution of drugs and medical products
- Pharmacy services, including retail and mail-order pharmacy and pharmacy benefit management
- Diagnostics and laboratory testing
- Healthcare technology, such as records, billing and data systems
- Other healthcare services, such as dialysis or home care
So “healthcare company” is a much broader idea than “hospital.” As the table below shows, the largest U.S. healthcare companies by revenue are insurers and distributors, not hospital operators.
How We Ranked the Top Healthcare Companies
The ranking uses one measure, applied the same way to every company:
- Primary metric: total company revenue for the latest completed fiscal year that the company has reported.
- Data source: each company's annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Headquarters come from the 10-K cover page and employee counts from its human-capital section.
- Geography: companies headquartered in the United States whose main business is healthcare.
- Fiscal years: most companies use the calendar year, but McKesson's year ends in March, Cardinal Health's in June, and Cencora's and BD's in September. Each figure is shown with its period.
A few companies are left out of the ranking, for stated reasons:
- Medtronic, a major device maker, lists its principal executive office in Galway, Ireland, in its 10-K, although its main operating offices are in the Minneapolis area. It is covered in the device section instead.
- Walgreens Boots Alliance was taken private in August 2025 and filed no annual report for fiscal 2025, so it has no comparable current figure.
- Nonprofit and mutual organizations, such as many health systems and some insurers, do not file 10-Ks and are not included.
- Subsidiaries such as Optum, Aetna and Evernorth are counted inside their parent companies, so revenue is not counted twice.
Revenue is a good measure of scale, but it does not measure clinical quality, patient or customer satisfaction, innovation, profitability, market value or how good a company is to work for. Distributors, for example, pass large volumes of drugs through their books on thin margins, which makes their revenue very high. In this article, “top” means largest by the revenue method above. Other rankings, such as the Fortune 500, may use a different fiscal year for some companies, so their order can differ.
Top 25 Healthcare Companies in the USA
The largest healthcare companies in the USA by annual revenue are led by UnitedHealth Group ($447.6B), McKesson ($403.4B) and CVS Health ($402.1B). The full Top 25 below links each company to its official website and to the 10-K its figures come from.
Insurers and distributors take nine of the top ten places. The first drug maker, Johnson & Johnson, ranks tenth, and the first hospital operator, HCA Healthcare, ranks eleventh. Just outside the list are GE HealthCare ($20.6B) and Boston Scientific ($20.1B).
Profiles of the Largest Healthcare Companies
Short profiles of the eleven largest companies follow, based on their latest annual reports.
1. UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group runs two businesses. UnitedHealthcare provides health benefits for employers, individuals, Medicare and Medicaid members. Optum provides care delivery (Optum Health), health data and technology services (Optum Insight) and pharmacy benefit services (Optum Rx). That mix of insurance and services is why its revenue is the largest of any U.S. healthcare company.
2. McKesson
McKesson is a wholesale distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical products. Its segments cover North American pharmaceutical distribution, oncology and multispecialty services, prescription technology solutions and medical-surgical supplies for physician offices and other sites of care. Its fiscal year ends in March, and the figure shown is for the year ended March 31, 2026.
3. CVS Health
CVS Health combines health insurance through Aetna, pharmacy benefit management through CVS Caremark, retail pharmacies and care-delivery businesses such as Oak Street Health. It reports Health Care Benefits, Health Services and Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segments, which makes it one of the most diversified companies in the sector.
4. Cencora
Cencora, formerly AmerisourceBergen, distributes pharmaceuticals and provides services to drug makers, pharmacies and providers in the United States and internationally. Its international businesses include Alliance Healthcare and World Courier. Its fiscal year ends in September; fiscal 2026 had not yet been reported when this article was researched.
5. The Cigna Group
The Cigna Group has two main businesses. Evernorth Health Services, which includes Express Scripts and Accredo, provides pharmacy benefit and specialty pharmacy services. Cigna Healthcare provides medical and related health benefits.
6. Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health distributes pharmaceuticals and medical products, makes and sources medical and surgical products, and runs nuclear pharmacy, at-home supply and logistics businesses. Its fiscal year ends in June; the figure shown is for the year ended June 30, 2026.
7. Elevance Health
Elevance Health, formerly Anthem, is one of the largest U.S. health benefits companies, operating Anthem and other plans. It also runs CarelonRx, its pharmacy business, and Carelon Services, which provides care and health services.
8. Centene
Centene focuses on government-sponsored health plans. It reports Medicaid, Medicare and Commercial segments, and its brands include Ambetter for the health insurance marketplace and WellCare for Medicare.
9. Humana
Humana reports two segments: Insurance, which includes its Medicare Advantage and other health plans, and CenterWell, which includes primary care, pharmacy and home health services.
10. Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson reports two segments: Innovative Medicine ($60.4B in FY2025) and MedTech ($33.8B), which covers orthopedics, surgery, cardiovascular and vision products. Its former consumer health business became the separate company Kenvue in 2023.
11. HCA Healthcare
HCA Healthcare is the largest hospital operator in this ranking. According to its 10-K, it operated 190 hospitals at December 31, 2025, along with freestanding surgery and endoscopy centers, in 19 states and England.
Largest Health Insurance Companies in the USA
Ranked by total company revenue, the largest U.S. companies with major health insurance businesses are shown below. Several of them also run pharmacy, care-delivery or technology businesses, so these figures are company totals, not insurance-only revenue. Ranking by membership would need a separate measure and could give a different order.
| Company | Revenue | Period | Other major businesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| UnitedHealth Group | $447.6B | FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025) | Optum health services, data and pharmacy |
| CVS Health | $402.1B | FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025) | CVS Caremark, retail pharmacy, care delivery |
| The Cigna Group | $274.9B | FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025) | Evernorth pharmacy and care services |
| Elevance Health | $199.1B | FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025) | CarelonRx and Carelon Services |
| Centene | $194.8B | FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025) | Mainly Medicaid, Medicare and marketplace plans |
| Humana | $129.7B | FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025) | CenterWell primary care, pharmacy and home health |
| Molina Healthcare | $45.4B | FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025) | Mainly Medicaid, Medicare and marketplace plans |
Largest Pharmaceutical Companies in the USA
The largest U.S.-headquartered pharmaceutical companies by FY2025 total revenue are Eli Lilly ($65.2B), Merck & Co. ($65.0B), Pfizer ($62.6B) and AbbVie ($61.2B), followed by Bristol Myers Squibb, and the biotechnology companies Amgen and Gilead Sciences.
Johnson & Johnson has higher total revenue ($94.2B), but it is a diversified company: its Innovative Medicine segment reported $60.4B and its MedTech segment $33.8B. Comparing its pharmaceutical segment with the totals of single-segment drug makers would not be like for like, so no single company is called “the largest pharmaceutical company” here. Merck's total also includes its Animal Health business.
Largest Medical Device Companies in the USA
Medical device companies make everything from surgical implants and heart devices to imaging systems and syringes. Among U.S.-headquartered companies, the largest by total company revenue include Abbott Laboratories ($44.3B), Stryker ($25.1B), Becton Dickinson (BD) ($21.8B), GE HealthCare ($20.6B) and Boston Scientific ($20.1B).
Company-wide revenue is not the same as device revenue. Abbott's total also includes diagnostics, nutrition and established pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson's MedTech segment reported $33.8B, which is a segment figure, not a company total. BD's fiscal 2025 figure still includes the biosciences and diagnostics business it later combined with Waters in February 2026.
Medtronic is one of the largest device makers in the world, with $36.4B in net sales for FY2026 (ended Apr 24, 2026). It is not in the Top 25 because its 10-K lists its principal executive office in Ireland. Device makers are also covered on our medical device manufacturers page.
Largest Healthcare Distribution Companies
Distributors sit between manufacturers and the places care is delivered. They buy medicines and medical products in bulk and deliver them to pharmacies, hospitals, clinics and physician offices, and many also provide services such as specialty pharmacy, logistics and technology. Because the full value of the drugs they sell passes through their revenue, they rank among the largest companies in the country even though they do not make drugs or treat patients.
| Company | Revenue | Fiscal period | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|
| McKesson | $403.4B | FY2026 (Mar 31, 2026) | Irving, TX |
| Cencora | $321.3B | FY2025 (Sep 30, 2025) | Conshohocken, PA |
| Cardinal Health | $254.2B | FY2026 (Jun 30, 2026) | Dublin, OH |
| Henry Schein | $13.2B | FY2025 (ended Dec 27, 2025) | Melville, NY |
Henry Schein, outside the Top 25, mainly distributes dental and medical products to office-based practitioners.
Major Hospital and Healthcare Provider Companies
Investor-owned hospital companies operate hospitals, surgery centers and other sites of care across many markets. Revenue and number of hospitals are different measures, so both are shown where the company's 10-K states them:
| Company | Revenue (FY2025) | Facilities (per 10-K) |
|---|---|---|
| HCA Healthcare | $75.6B | 190 hospitals, plus surgery and endoscopy centers, at Dec 31, 2025 |
| Tenet Healthcare | $21.3B | 50 hospitals and 132 outpatient facilities, plus stakes in 533 surgery centers and 26 surgical hospitals, at Dec 31, 2025 |
| Universal Health Services | $17.4B | 375 inpatient facilities, mostly behavioral health, as of Feb 25, 2026 |
| Community Health Systems | $12.5B | 69 affiliated hospitals at Dec 31, 2025 |
| DaVita | $13.6B | Kidney care and dialysis services |
Many U.S. hospitals are run by nonprofit or government health systems instead. Those organizations are important buyers but do not file SEC reports, so they fall outside this revenue ranking. For hospital audiences of every ownership type, see our hospitals page.
Healthcare Companies by Segment
The main segments of the U.S. healthcare industry, with examples from this research, are summarized below. Diversified companies appear under their largest business.
| Healthcare segment | Example companies | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| Health insurance / managed care | UnitedHealth Group, Elevance Health, Centene, Humana, Molina Healthcare | Provide health plans and manage benefits |
| Pharmacy & pharmacy benefits | CVS Health, The Cigna Group (Evernorth) | Run pharmacies and manage prescription drug benefits |
| Pharmaceuticals & biotechnology | Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, Gilead | Discover, develop and sell medicines |
| Medical devices / medtech | Abbott, Stryker, BD, Boston Scientific, GE HealthCare | Make devices, implants, equipment and supplies |
| Diversified healthcare | Johnson & Johnson | Medicines and medical technology |
| Healthcare distribution | McKesson, Cencora, Cardinal Health, Henry Schein | Move drugs and medical products to sites of care |
| Hospitals / health systems | HCA Healthcare, Tenet Healthcare, Universal Health Services, Community Health Systems | Operate hospitals and outpatient facilities |
| Diagnostics / laboratories | Labcorp ($14.0B), Quest Diagnostics ($11.0B) | Run clinical laboratory tests |
| Life sciences tools | Thermo Fisher Scientific, Danaher | Supply instruments, reagents and services to labs and drug makers |
| Healthcare services | DaVita, Optum Health (UnitedHealth Group) | Deliver specialized or outpatient care |
| Healthcare technology | Optum Insight (UnitedHealth Group), EHR platforms | Provide records, billing, data and analytics systems |
Technology used inside healthcare organizations, such as electronic health record systems, is covered on our EHR platforms page.
The U.S. healthcare ecosystem
Health insurers
Hospitals & providers
Physicians & clinical teams
Pharmaceutical companies
Medical device companies
Distributors
Pharmacies
Diagnostics & labs
Healthcare technology
Business & professional services
Healthcare Companies by State
The Top 25 companies are headquartered in 16 states and Washington, D.C. New Jersey has the most, with 4 companies (Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Bristol Myers Squibb, Becton Dickinson (BD)). This count covers only the companies in this ranking, not every healthcare company in each state.
| State | Top 25 companies | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 4 | Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Bristol Myers Squibb, Becton Dickinson (BD) |
| California | 3 | Molina Healthcare, Amgen, Gilead Sciences |
| Illinois | 2 | AbbVie, Abbott Laboratories |
| Indiana | 2 | Elevance Health, Eli Lilly |
| Texas | 2 | McKesson, Tenet Healthcare |
| Connecticut | 1 | The Cigna Group |
| Kentucky | 1 | Humana |
| Massachusetts | 1 | Thermo Fisher Scientific |
| Michigan | 1 | Stryker |
| Minnesota | 1 | UnitedHealth Group |
| Missouri | 1 | Centene |
| New York | 1 | Pfizer |
| Ohio | 1 | Cardinal Health |
| Pennsylvania | 1 | Cencora |
| Rhode Island | 1 | CVS Health |
| Tennessee | 1 | HCA Healthcare |
| Washington, D.C. | 1 | Danaher |
Who Sells to Healthcare Companies?
Healthcare organizations buy from almost every B2B sector. Common sellers include medical device and supply companies, healthcare software and IT providers, cybersecurity firms, staffing agencies, consulting firms, revenue cycle and medical billing companies, facilities management and food-service providers, laboratory suppliers, marketing agencies, training companies and event organizers.
Who you need to reach depends on what you sell. The table lists common roles to consider; it does not mean these people always make or control the purchase.
| What you sell | Potential healthcare organization | Potential decision-makers |
|---|---|---|
| Medical devices | Hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers | Physicians, clinical leadership, procurement |
| Healthcare software | Hospitals, physician practices | CIO, IT, operations, administrators |
| Medical supplies | Hospitals, healthcare facilities | Procurement, supply chain, materials management |
| Healthcare staffing | Hospitals, healthcare facilities | HR, nursing leadership, department leaders |
| Revenue cycle / medical billing | Physician practices | Physician owners, practice administrators, finance |
| Facilities services | Hospitals, healthcare facilities | Facilities and plant operations, procurement |
How to Reach Decision-Makers at Healthcare Companies
Knowing a company's name is only the first step. To reach the right people, businesses usually need to identify the relevant organization or facility, the department that buys their product, the job function and decision-maker within it, the location, and appropriate business contact information.
Depending on the offer, useful audiences can include:
- Healthcare executives, such as hospital CEOs, hospital CIOs and hospital CFOs
- Chief nursing officers and other clinical leaders
- Hospital procurement and supply chain leaders
- Hospital administrators and lab directors
- Physicians and nurses in the relevant specialties
- Staff at specific facility types, such as ambulatory surgery centers or nursing homes
HCPContacts provides B2B healthcare contact data that businesses use to identify the healthcare professionals, decision-makers and organizations relevant to their campaigns. Our guide to what an HCP database is explains how that data is organized and filtered.
Not sure which healthcare companies or decision-makers to target?
Build Your Healthcare ICPHow HCPContacts Helps Businesses Target the Healthcare Market
HCPContacts helps businesses identify healthcare audiences across professionals, executives and facilities. Audiences on the site include physicians, nurses, healthcare executives, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, and organizations using specific EHR platforms.
Build Your Healthcare Target Audience
Selling to healthcare companies?
Identify the organizations, healthcare professionals and decision-makers relevant to your product or service.
Frequently Asked Questions About Healthcare Companies in the USA
By total revenue for their latest completed fiscal year, as reported in their SEC filings, the five largest U.S.-headquartered healthcare companies in this analysis are UnitedHealth Group ($447.6B), McKesson ($403.4B), CVS Health ($402.1B), Cencora ($321.3B), The Cigna Group ($274.9B).
By annual revenue, UnitedHealth Group was the largest U.S. healthcare company in this analysis, with $447.6B in total revenue for FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025), according to its Form 10-K. Ranked by another measure, such as market value or number of employees, the answer can differ.
This guide ranks U.S.-headquartered healthcare companies by total revenue for their latest completed and reported fiscal year, taken from each company's Form 10-K. Fiscal years end at different times of year, so each figure is shown with its period. The ranking measures company size only, not healthcare quality, outcomes or value.
The main types are health insurers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical device makers, drug and medical product distributors, hospital and health system operators, pharmacies, diagnostics and laboratory companies, life sciences tools companies and healthcare technology and services companies.
By total company revenue (latest fiscal year), the largest U.S. companies with major health insurance businesses are UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health (Aetna), The Cigna Group, Elevance Health, Centene, Humana and Molina Healthcare. Several of these figures include pharmacy and care-delivery businesses, so they are not insurance-only revenue.
By FY2025 total revenue from their 10-Ks, the largest U.S.-headquartered drug makers in this analysis are Johnson & Johnson ($94.2B, including its MedTech business), Eli Lilly ($65.2B), Merck & Co. ($65.0B), Pfizer ($62.6B), AbbVie ($61.2B), Bristol Myers Squibb ($48.2B).
Among U.S.-headquartered companies, Abbott ($44.3B, which also includes diagnostics, nutrition and established pharmaceuticals), Stryker ($25.1B), BD ($21.8B), GE HealthCare ($20.6B) and Boston Scientific ($20.1B) are among the largest by total company revenue. Johnson & Johnson's MedTech segment and Medtronic, which is headquartered in Ireland, are also major device businesses.
Large investor-owned hospital operators include HCA Healthcare, which operated 190 hospitals at December 31, 2025, Tenet Healthcare, Universal Health Services and Community Health Systems. Many U.S. hospitals are also run by nonprofit and government health systems that do not file SEC reports.
According to CMS, U.S. national health expenditure grew 7.2% to $5.3 trillion in 2024, or $15,474 per person, equal to 18.0% of GDP. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted about 18,520,700 health care jobs in August 2026 (preliminary).
Medical device and supply companies, healthcare software and IT providers, cybersecurity firms, staffing agencies, consultants, revenue cycle and billing companies, facilities and food-service providers, laboratory suppliers, marketing agencies, training providers and event organizers all sell to healthcare organizations.
Start with the type of organization and the department that buys what you sell, then identify the job functions involved, such as IT, procurement, finance, nursing leadership or administration. Business contact data filtered by organization type, role and location can then be used to build an outreach list.
Sources
Company figures come from each company's latest Form 10-K on the SEC's EDGAR system, linked in the Top 25 table above. Market statistics come from:
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): National Health Expenditure Fact Sheet (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): The Employment Situation, Table B-1: Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): EDGAR company filings (opens in a new tab)
Companies referenced outside the Top 25:
- GE HealthCare: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- Boston Scientific: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- Medtronic: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- Universal Health Services: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- Community Health Systems: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- DaVita: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- Labcorp: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- Quest Diagnostics: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)
- Henry Schein: Form 10-K (opens in a new tab) · Official website (opens in a new tab)