Seattle

Health Care

With 26 acute-care hospitals and four specialized facilities, the Seattle metropolitan area is the leading health care center for the Pacific Northwest region. Altogether, the city has 4,500 hospital beds and some 3,000 physicians in clinical practice. The premier teaching hospital is the University of Washington Hospital. In 1997 the hospital, with 348 staffed beds, admitted 15,117 patients and logged 314,580 outpatient visits. Other well-known health care institutions are Children's Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Seattle is also the home to a large number of free clinics and the Bailey-Boushay House, which has pioneered an inexpensive treatment setting for patients with AIDS.