Seattle Children’s Hospital

Seattle Children’s, formerly Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, formerly Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, is a children’s hospital in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. In 2016, it was ranked as the 5th best children’s hospital in America by U.S. News and World Report and was ranked #4 in nephrology, #6 in cancer, #5 in neonatology, #13 in gastroenterology and GI surgery, #11 in pulmonology and #9 in neurology and neurosurgery.[1]

The hospital was founded as the seven-bed Children’s Orthopedic Hospital in 1907 by Anna Herr Clise after her 5-year-old son, Willis, died of inflammatory rheumatism in 1898.[2] It was originally a ward of the downtown Seattle General Hospital. It moved to a cottage on Queen Anne Hill the next year, and in 1911 local luminaries including Herbert Gowen and Mark A. Matthews dedicated a full 40-bed hospital at the same location.[3]

The library at the hospital was founded in 1946.[4]

In 1953, Children’s moved to a new campus in Laurelhurst, east of the University of Washington.[citation needed]

A research division, the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, was established in 2006.[5]

In December 2007, Seattle Children’s purchased a seven-story building in the Denny Triangle, near downtown Seattle and South Lake Union.[6] With this purchase, Children’s acquired nearly 2 square blocks for the research insititute.[7]

In 2008, the institution formally changed its name to Seattle Children’s.[8] In 2008, the hospital was awarded Magnet recognition by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and was recognized again in 2013.[9]

In 2010, Seattle Children’s opened a clinic in Bellevue, Washington.[10]

In 2011, Seattle Children’s began charging an added facility charge for hospital-based clinic visits, including urgent care.[11][12]

In 2013, Seattle Children’s opened a 330,000 square foot expansion at the main campus in Seattle. The expansion included a new cancer and critical care unit as well as a new emergency department with 38 exam rooms. The facility added 80 new private beds in single patient rooms. The building is expected to use 47 percent less energy and 30 percent less water than similar-sized hospitals in the region.[13]

In 2013 Seattle Children’s filed a lawsuit against the Washington State Insurance commissioner for certifying insurance plans in the state’s new health insurance exchange (established under the Affordable Care Act) for failing to provide coverage for the hospital; the hospital also filed an administrative appeal with the insurance commissioner’s office.[14] The hospital dropped the suit and appeal in 2014 when several insurance plans covered it.[15]

In 2014, Seattle Children’s received the largest donation in its history: $73.9M from Jack R. MacDonald.[16]

In 2015 the hospital warned the public that due to its improper sterilization of surgical equipment, around 12,000 children and young adults treated there since 2010 were at risk of infection from bacteria or blood-borne viruses, including hepatitis B and C and HIV; it had issued a similar warning two years earlier.[17]