Children's Hospital of Michigan is part of the Detroit Medical Center, a comprehensive health care system integrated with the research and academic programs of the Wayne State University School of Medicine. The DMC is proud of its reputation as one of the premier academic health care systems in the country.

The DMC encompasses seven hospitals, a nursing center and a range of outpatient facilities throughout metropolitan Detroit. Five of these institutions, including Children's Hospital of Michigan, are on the 110-acre main campus, as is the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the largest single campus medical school in the country. A $250-million 503-bed Veteran's Administration replacement hospital, located on 19 acres adjacent to the DMC opened in 1996. The Sinai Hospital Health System has also recently been added to the DMC family.

Detroit Receiving Hospital is recognized as a Level I trauma center with specialized units for spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and psychological trauma. Harper Hospital is a major tertiary care hospital, a national leader in cancer treatment and is known for such additional specialties as a surgery, nephrology, heart disease, and gastrointestinal disorders. Hutzel Hospital is a teritiary care facility specializing in routing and high-risk obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, and ophthomology. The Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, one of the largest adult rehabilitation hospitals in the Midwest, cooperates with Receiving Hospital and the School of Medicine in a federally designated model system of care for people with traumatic brain injuries. Northwest Detroit's Grace Hospital and Huron Valley Hospital, in suburban Commerce Township, are also part of The Detroit Medical Center.

The Veteran's Administration Hospital consists of over one million square feet, occupies 19 acres, and is divided into three sections. The Diagnostic Treatment Area offers a full range of support services including dialysis, radiation therapy, and MRI. The Psychiatric Area includes inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services, medical research laboratories, and the administrative offices. The Medical Surgical Area houses the medical and surgical bed wards, medical and cardiac intensive care wards, step-down units, and 23-hour ambulatory surgery.

The DMC bring together 2,400 affiliated physicians (many of them on the faculty of the Wayne State University School of Medicine), 913 residents and 16,000 employees. DMC institutions, with 2,500 licensed beds, admit nearly 87,000 adult and pediatric patients and more than 13,000 newborns a year. The hospitals and outpatient health centers together handle about 1,560,900 ambulatory and emergency visits annually.

The DMC and its member institutions offer an unparalleled scope of complex medical care and an unequaled educational opportunity for physicians-in-training. They are closely affiliated with the Wayne State University School of Medicine, which in 1995 received $56 million dollars in external funding for research and specialized patient services. Children's Hospital of Michigan, the principal site for educating medical students about children, received $12.5 million.