About Massachusetts General Hospital

Mission Statement : To provide the highest quality care to individuals and to the local and distant communities we serve , to advance care through excellence in biomedical research, and to educate future academic and practice leaders of the health care professions.

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Founded in 1811, the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is the third oldest general hospital in the United States and the oldest and largest in New England. The 898-bed world-renowned medical center offers sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic care in virtually every specialty and subspecialty of medicine and surgery.

Each year the MGH admits approximately 45,000 inpatients and handles almost 1.5 million visits in its extensive outpatient programs at the main campus and at its four health centers, in the Back Bay, Charlestown, Chelsea and Revere. Its emergency services handles over 76,000 visits annually. Each year the surgical staff performs more than 34,000 operations, and the MGH Vincent Obstetrics Service delivers more than 3,500 babies.

The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of nearly $463 million. It is the oldest and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, and nearly all of the hospital's active staff physicians are on the Harvard Medical School faculty.

The MGH is the largest nongovernment employer in the city of Boston, with more than 19,500 employees, including almost 4,300 registered nurses. In addition, its 3,900-member medical staff includes physicians, dentists, psychologists, podiatrists, residents and fellows.

In March 1994, the MGH joined with Brigham and Women's Hospital to form Partners HealthCare System, Inc., an affiliation established to create an integrated health care delivery system providing excellent, cost-effective care while maintaining the hospital's historic dedication to teaching and research. In addition to the founding institutions, Partners HealthCare System now includes North Shore Medical Center, Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Faulkner Hospital.

Partners' physician network, Partners Community HealthCare, Inc., currently includes more than 1,000 primary care physicians and 3,500 specialists. Partners also includes home health agencies, McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Belmont, Mass., and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. Partners also is involved in a collaborative program for adult oncology with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

In July 2005, the MGH was named one of the country's best hospitals by U.S. News and World Report for the sixteenth year, ranking third nationwide.

Facts and figures

	FY03	FY04
Available Beds	893	898
Average Occupancy Rate	80.47 %	82.92%
Admissions	44,518	45,497
Average Length of Stay	5.83	5.99
Admissions to Observe	5,285	5,507
Ambulatory Visits
MGPO visits	694,268	741,046
Clinic visits	417,203	433,176
Health Centers:
Charlestown	49,432	51,899
Chelsea	152,360	153,666
Revere	85,184	90,001
Back Bay	12,256	12,408
Total Health Center Visits	299,232	307,974
Emergency Visits	74,905	76,135
Total Ambulatory and Emergency Visits	1,485,608	1,558,331
Surgical Cases
Inpatient	17,957	18,628
Ambulatory	15,013	15,444
Total Surgical Cases	32,970	34,072
Births	3,604	3,510