The Miami VA Healthcare System has a long and colorful history. In 1942, the commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces directed that an officer candidate school be established to maintain an Air Force Replacement Training Center with facilities for medical services. The Floridian and Nautilus Hotels were used for this purpose. The Nautilus is considered to have been the first Veterans Administration hospital in the Greater Miami Area. The facilities of the Nautilus were soon inadequate for the number of troops stationed in the area and another Air Force Team was called in to inspect all hotels in South Florida. The famed Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables was selected and became an Army Hospital in 1946. It was renamed Pratt General Hospital in honor of one of the U.S. Army Air Forces’ pioneer flight surgeons.

Pratt General Hospital was deactivated in May 1947, but was taken over immediately by the Veterans Administration. The hospital, consisting of 450 general medical and surgical beds, was maintained until the completion and activation of the present Medical Center, located at 1201 NW 16th Street, in May 1968.

The Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center operates 191 hospital beds. The bed composition is 34 in Intermediate Care, 82 in Medical, five in Neurology, 32 in Psychiatry, six in Rehabilitation Medicine, 36 in Spinal Cord Injury, and 30 in Surgical. Extended geriatric care is provided in our 120-bed Nursing Home Care Unit, plus 58 Psychiatry Rehabilitation beds.

The Medical Center is located on 26.3 acres in the Miami Health District, which includes Jackson Memorial Hospital, Cedars Medical Center, the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics, Bascom The area’s growth has continued unabated since the opening of the hospital. To more readily serve the geographically dispersed veteran population, Outpatient Clinics were established in Oakland Park in 1982 and Key West in 1986. In September of 2008 The Broward Count VA Outpatient Clininc replaced the Oakland Park VA Outpatient Clinic which has been serving our veterans for more than 26 years. It will improve the access to patient care to over 150,000 veterans residing in Broward County, southern Palm Beach County, and northern Miami-Dade County. Community Based Outpatient Clinics are located in Pembroke Pines, Key Largo, and Hollywood. Primary Care Clinics are located in Homestead, Coral Springs, and Deerfield Beach. The Miami VA Healthcare System main campus and its satellite clinics generate over 500,000 visits per year.