Iowa Methodist Medical Center originally opened on January 16, 1901, as Iowa Methodist Hospital, a 30-bed hospital on the former site of Callanan College.

[1][2][3] In 1956, the hospital performed the first open-heart procedure outside of the Mayo Clinic and also built the first radiation therapy department in Des Moines.

Iowa Methodist began operating Life Flight, an air ambulance service, in 1979.

The John Stoddard Cancer Center opened in the early 1990s, combining full radiation, oncology, and associated treatments into a single location.

[4][5] The hospital houses the Blank Children's Hospital, which contains a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and a level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).