The Walter Reed Health Care System provides comprehensive health care for more than 150,000 Soldiers, other servicemembers, Family members and retirees in the National Capital Area. Its hub is Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the clinical center of gravity of American military medicine.

The system includes 10 major treatment facilities in three states.

Dewitt Army Community Hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va., operates major clinical sites at Fairfax and Woodbridge, Va., as well as Rader Army Health Clinic at Fort Myer, Va., and a clinic at Fort A.P. Hill, Va.

Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center at Fort Meade, Md., operates Kirk Army Health Clinic at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; Barquist Army Health Clinic at Fort Detrick, Md.; and Dunham Army Health Clinic at Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

In addition, the system provides professional control, supervision and support for the DiLorenzo TRICARE Clinic at the Pentagon.

Since its inception in 1995, the system has grown in scope and in clinical integration to promote ease of access, a high level of continuity between primary and specialty care, and a special emphasis on measuring and improving the outcomes of care for patients with complex and high-risk disease states, putting patients at the center of key decisions about their care.

Since 2000, this outcomes initiative, HEALTHeFORCES, has measurably improved the wellness and daily lives of patients with such conditions as diabetes, high blood pressure, and chronic pulmonary disease.

The system's staff of 6,000 includes more than 600 Army physicians. Half of them are in training in more than 40 graduate medical specialty programs. Walter Reed trains the majority of the Army's physician subspecialists. In addition, it conducts training for many nursing and enlisted medical specialties. Its status as a worldwide referral center for patients with the most complex and challenging illnesses supports the high quality of its educational missions, and sustains the capabilities of its clinical staff.

The Walter Reed Health Care System is also the Army's leading center of clinical research and innovation, attracting annual research support for such efforts as prostate disease research, coronary artery disease reversal, comprehensive breast care, therapy of traumatic brain injury, amputee care and limb salvage, advanced diabetes management, technical advances in robotic surgery, nursing care delivery, evaluation of balance disorders, telemedicine, treatment of chronic viral hepatitis, and many other programs.