Washington Hospital Center

Washington Hospital Center
Washington Hospital Center is the largest private hospital in Washington, D.C..

A member of MedStar Health, the not-for-profit Hospital Center is licensed for 926 beds and, on average, operates near capacity. Health services in primary, secondary and tertiary care are offered to adult and neonatal patients. The Hospital Center occupies a 47-acre campus in Northwest Washington it shares with three other medical facilities. Immediately adjacent to the Washington Hospital Center are the National Rehabilitation Hospital and Children's National Medical Center (although Children's has satellite centers scattered across the city).

The Washington Heart program is a national leader in the research, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease; its angioplasty or cardiac catheterization laboratory is recognized by the DuPont Foundation as the busiest in the nation. One of the Washington area's first heart transplants was done at the Hospital Center on May 22,1987.

In addition to its cardiac care specialties, the Hospital Center is respected as a top facility in other areas including cancer, neurosciences, gastrointestinal disorders, endocrinology, women's services, transplantation and burn. Washington Hospital Center’s neurosciences program offers the full range of surgical and minimally invasive treatment and operates the only JCAHO-accredited Primary Stroke Center in the District. The adult burn center is the most advanced in the area.

The Washington Cancer Institute (WCI) is the District's largest cancer care provider, treating more cancer patients than any other program in the nation's capital. The Cancer Institute diagnosed more than 2,580 new cases during fiscal year 2006. There were more than 84,299 outpatient visits and more than 2,423 inpatient admissions during that period. WCI provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary care including surgical, radiation and medical oncology services as well as counseling for patients and families, cancer education, community outreach program and clinical research trials. The Center for Breast Health saw an estimated 15,358 patients during fiscal year 2006.

The Hospital Center's transplantation program ranks among the top five percent in the nation for patient outcomes and consistently exceeds the national average. The program for kidney, pancreas and heart is one of the busiest on the East Coast. Perhaps the Hospital Center's most wide-reaching presence is its MedSTAR Transport air ambulance service, which, as of 2007 had carried 40,293 patients since its inception in 1983. The American College of Surgeons consistently recognizes the MedSTAR Trauma program as one of the nation's best Level I shock/trauma units.

History
The Washington Hospital Center was founded in March 1958 when three specialty hospitals merged into one. On May 7, 1998, Medlantic Healthcare Group, the Hospital Center's not-for-profit parent company, merged with Helix Health, a group of four Baltimore, MD-based hospitals, making the combined company the largest health care provider in the mid-Atlantic region. Helix/Medlantic was renamed MedStar Health on February 1, 1999.

Recent Statistics
In fiscal year 2006, 46,155 inpatients were served --including 4,409 births-- and 366,248 outpatients. The Hospital Center has a medical/dental staff of 1,584. A total of 19,054 cardiac catheterizations were performed during FY 2006. There were 1,803 open-heart surgeries and six heart transplants performed during the fiscal year. There were 111 kidney transplants, four combination kidney/pancreas transplants and three pancreas transplants performed during fiscal year 2006. There were 3,791 helicopter transports and 1,007 trauma unit visits in FY 2006. There were 74,025 Emergency Department visits, including 18,776 admissions. The Hospital Center provided over $55.3 million in charity care during FY 2006.

Washington Hospital Center In the News
In 2007, the Washington Hospital Center was named among “America’s Best Hospitals” for heart and heart surgery and kidney disease by U.S.News & World Report in the magazine’s 18th annual survey of 5,462 health care facilities.

The Hospital Center was the only Washington hospital to be ranked in the areas of heart and heart surgery and geriatrics and was the top ranked Washington area hospital in kidney disease and transplantation. Only 173 medical centers in the U.S. were ranked in one or more of 16 specialties designated in U.S.News & World Report's survey.

A sampling of board-certified doctors in each specialty was randomly selected from the American Medical Association’s master list of 850,000 physicians nationwide. U.S.News randomly polled 200 doctors in each specialty who were asked to list the five hospitals they considered best in their specialty for difficult cases. The mail survey also asked that the decision be made without consideration of cost or location. An estimated 46 percent of the 3,200 doctors contacted responded to the 2006 survey. Hospitals were judged on three equally weighted factors - reputation, mortality rate, and patient care-related factors including nursing and patient services. The 50 hospitals with the highest scores in each specialty made the list.

The Washington Hospital Center's homegrown Azyxxi healthcare software made the news when it was purchased by Microsoft in July 2006.

Contact Information

 * +1-202-877-7000 Main Hospital Telephone Number
 * +1-202-877-3627 Appointments and Referrals