St. Vincent Medical Center

Serving the Los Angeles community for more than 155 years, St. Vincent Medical Center has repeatedly pioneered new clinical and surgical procedures. St. Vincent Medical Center possesses an extensive history. In 1856, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul founded the Los Angeles Infirmary, which became the first hospital in the city, after opening a school and orphanage. The Los Angeles Infirmary eventually became St. Vincent Medical Center. 

In 1957, St. Vincent Medical Center hosted the first successful open-heart surgery performed on the West Coast of the United States. Three years later, physicians at St. Vincent Medical Center used a surgical microscope as a tool during an inner-ear surgery for the first time anywhere. St. Vincent Medical Center also first offered hemodialysis as a treatment for patients with kidney failure in 1962. Other pioneering heart procedures occurred at St. Vincent Medical Center in the ensuing years, including its first artificial heart implant in 1966 and its first human heart transplant in 1988. At St. Vincent Medical Center, inner-ear specialists on the staff teamed with others to develop the now well-established cochlear implant. 

With a proud history and reputation, the team at St. Vincent Medical Center always strives to improve. St. Vincent Medical Center voluntarily participated in the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project organized by the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and the Premier healthcare alliance, which ran for six years through 2009. Roughly 225 hospitals treating an estimated 2 million patients participated nationally. Through this effort, St. Vincent Medical Center received eight top attainment and improvement awards for its performance in the clinical areas of Heart Failure, Hip and Knee, Pneumonia, and Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting. St. Vincent Medical Center submits patient care and clinical data on a regular basis to the California Hospital Association’s Hospital Compare, and The Joint Commission Quality Check.