After the hospital's completion, Colonel Robert M. Hardaway was appointed commanding officer. The administration and medical staff were military personnel, and local residents were hired to work in such areas as the kitchen, bakery, and laundry as well as in maintenance and clerical positions. Patients were primarily sick and injured military personnel from Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, in keeping with the government's policy of locating patients as close to home as medically feasible so that their families could more easily visit them. Brigham City residents provided room and board in their homes for out-of-town relatives of patients.

The medical staff specialized in orthopedic and neuro-psychiatric cases and in tropical diseases. It was the first military hospital to use penicillin, and the facility provided training for medical doctors being sent to the European and Pacific combat areas. Approximately 13,000 patients were treated during the hospital's life of less than four years.