MedStar Washington Hospital Center is a not-for-profit, 926-bed, major teaching and research hospital. It is the largest private hospital in the nation's capital and among the 50 largest hospitals in the nation. Founded in 1958, when three specialty hospitals merged to form a single institution, the hospital offers primary, secondary and tertiary health services to adult and neonatal patients. It shares a 47-acre campus with three medical facilities in Northwest Washington, D.C.

During fiscal year 2012 (FY12), the hospital had 409,517 outpatient and 41,127 inpatient visits, as well as 3,567 births. Regional medical facilities referred nearly 9,300 of their most complicated medical cases to the Hospital Center during that time. The Hospital Center has one the region's most experienced medical/dental and surgical staffs, numbering 1,439 physicians, many of whom are involved in 400 clinical research trials currently underway. Its 29 clinical residency and fellowship programs attract nearly 350 medical students annually.

MedStar Washington Hospital Center's most far-reaching presence is MedSTAR Transport. The air ambulance service has carried 55,224 patients since its inception in 1983, and in FY12, flew 1,790 helicopter missions. The MedSTAR Trauma program is one of the nation's most advanced level I shock/trauma units as verified by the American College of Surgeons. In this year, there were 2,587 trauma admissions and 91,258 Emergency Department visits, which included 22,581 patient admissions. Its adult burn center, recognized as a national model in burn care therapies and the region's only adult facility, treated 412 patients.

The Hospital Center is committed to providing care to the underserved in its community. In FY12, the hospital provided $114 million in unsponsored care, a combination of $30.2 million in charity care and $83.8 million in bad debt.