Located in the nation's capital, only a short distance from the historic buildings that house today's leaders and commemorate yesterday's, the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center is one of the most visible and dynamic facilities in the VA system. This tertiary care teaching facility provides acute general and specialized services in medicine, surgery, neurology and psychiatry, as well offering nursing home care unit treatment. The medical center also oversees a satellite Substance Abuse Clinic and three Vet Centers.

The medical center's staff of 1,700 provides care to veterans residing in the District of Columbia and portions of Virginia and Maryland. The medical center treats over 50,000 veterans and has over 500,000 outpatient visits each year. The Washington DC VAMC is the only VA medical center to hold three medical school affiliations. It is also affiliated with many other colleges and universities in such areas as pharmacy, rehabilitation medicine, biomedical engineering, dietetics, social work, nursing and medical center management.

The medical center has a multi-million dollar research program that supports more than 100 investigators and 300 active research projects. Major research in alcoholism, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and spinal cord regeneration is being conducted.

In 1995, the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center was one of the first VA medical centers to use the Enhanced-Use Lease to build a childcare center on VA property. The childcare center, operated by La Petite Academy, offers convenient childcare for VA employees. The Enhanced-Use Lease enabled La Petite to lease VA land and build the center that will revert back to the medical center in 30 years.

The Washington DC VAMC has VA/DoD sharing agreements with National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was selected as a primary back-up facility during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.