Although by 1944 the hospital ranked among the ten largest general hospitals in the United States, it was consistently underfunded and understaffed by the city.
By 1948, its medical residents included more than one third of all graduates, including Dr. Helen Elizabeth Nash, from the two American black medical schools.
In the 1940s and 1950s it was a leader in developing the practice of intravenous feeding and treatments for gunshot wounds, ulcers, and burns.
Not only did it house a nursing school, but also schools for training x-ray technicians, laboratory technicians and medical record-keeping.
It also began offering training and work to foreign doctors who were being denied by other hospitals because of their race.

After a 1955 order by Mayor Raymond Tucker to desegregate city hospitals, Homer G. Phillips began admitting patients regardless of race, color or religious beliefs.
However, it remained a primarily black institution into the 1960s, by tradition and because of the ethnic character of its neighborhood.
In 1960, each department of the hospital was staffed by at least one black doctor who also was a staff member of either Washington University in St. Louis or Saint Louis University, and in 1962, three-fourths of the interns at the hospital were black.
Although by 1944 the hospital ranked among the ten largest general hospitals in the United States, it was consistently underfunded and understaffed by the city. By 1948, its medical residents included more than one third of all graduates, including Dr. Helen Elizabeth Nash, from the two American black medical schools. In the 1940s and 1950s it was a leader in developing the practice of intravenous feeding and treatments for gunshot wounds, ulcers, and burns. Not only did it house a nursing school, but also schools for training x-ray technicians, laboratory technicians and medical record-keeping. It also began offering training and work to foreign doctors who were being denied by other hospitals because of their race.
After a 1955 order by Mayor Raymond Tucker to desegregate city hospitals, Homer G. Phillips began admitting patients regardless of race, color or religious beliefs. However, it remained a primarily black institution into the 1960s, by tradition and because of the ethnic character of its neighborhood. In 1960, each department of the hospital was staffed by at least one black doctor who also was a staff member of either Washington University in St. Louis or Saint Louis University, and in 1962, three-fourths of the interns at the hospital were black.
Homer G. Phillips Hospital