Agent.Hospital is an open agent-based (software) framework for distributed applications in the healthcare domain. Previous appropriation of the Agent.Hospital development is application and examination of agent technology in realistic business scenarios and the identification of further research needs. This paper introduces the framework developed by the German Priority Research Program 1083. We describe the initial system concept, currently implemented or specified functionalities and the integration of FIPA standardization activities. The example scenario „clinical trials“ illustrates how Agent.Hospital supports distributed clinical processes as well as further research of agent technology.