PIW is fully accredited by The Joint Commission. We are accredited annually by the District of Columbia and maintain current licensure, and we are in full compliance with the Conditions of Participation for the Centers of Medicaid and Medicare Services.

In 1967, Drs. Jack Durell and Howard Hoffman, research psychiatrists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), were asked by a group of psychiatrists from George Washington University to help form the clinical program for a new private psychiatric hospital, to be based on the model developed at NIMH. As a result, the Psychiatric Institute of Washington (PIW) was opened as a freestanding, 75-bed hospital in downtown Washington, DC.

Throughout the 1980's, the hospital grew, and served as a model for other psychiatric hospitals that were built throughout the United States. In 1995, Dr. Hoffman rejoined the hospital. He, along with his partners, Ken Courage and Charles Baumgardner, assumed the leadership in an attempt to rebuild the hospital and provide a new mission and vision.

PIW made a commitment to the city of Washington to be a significant part of the mental health delivery system, by focusing on the needs of the District of Columbia. The Child and Adolescent programs changed to meet the needs of inner-city youth. PIW also became a major center for the city's substance abuse population. PIW formed the area's only gay and lesbian treatment center, the Lambda Center. In addition, The Center was developed, a specialized unit for women and men who have been traumatized by abuse. Through the clinical trials research program, free inpatient care was offered to the city's neediest chronic schizophrenic adults. The latest program is New Directions, an intensive outpatient and residential treatment program for substance abusers.

The dramatic turnaround that began in 1995 has continued. The Medical Staff now has highly skilled, full-time "hospitalists", both board-certified Adult and Child and Adolescent psychiatrists. Our hospitalists are among the most experienced in the metropolitan area. Contracts with managed care companies were negotiated, and a close working relationship with the DC Department of Mental Health and the Substance Abuse Administration has been formed.

All of these have led to a steady growth in admissions and census, along with a growing appreciation of PIW as the area's preeminent treatment facility for the District's most troubled. It has become a leader in student placements for medical, nursing, psychology and social work students.

At a time when many private psychiatric hospitals have closed, PIW remains strong and vital, and proudly committed to its mission to serve.