University Hospitals and Clinics Timeline

1911 Elliot Memorial Hospital opens; it is the first hospital facility built at the University of Minnesota
1935 Ray Amberg, who had received his pharmacy degree from the University of Minnesota in 1920, becomes hospital director
1951 The Variety Club Heart Hospital opens
1954 The Mayo Memorial Hospital opens
1964 Ray Amberg retires as University Hospitals administrator. Gertrude Gilman who had been Assistant Superintendent of the Hospitals, is his replacement
1965 The Medicare program begins, reimbursing the Hospital based on cost
1966 John Westerman, who had been executive secretary of the University’s Long-Range Planning Committee for the Health Sciences since 1964, becomes the director of University Hospitals
1974 The Hospital Board of Governors is created in order to help the hospital navigate the increasingly competitive healthcare marketplace
1975 The University Hospitals offer full clinical services to Vietnamese refugees “free of charge”
1976 The Minnesota Supreme Court rules that the Hospitals are not allowed to invoke sovereign immunity (from civil lawsuits)
1977 The outpatient abortion clinic is closed because student demand is low and there are adequate community resources both for abortion services and for students wishing to receive training in abortions
1979-1980 There is growing concern over a shortage of nurses and difficulties in recruiting nurses because of unsatisfactory working conditions at University Hospitals
1982 The Hospital’s Biomedical Ethics [Thanatology] Committee discusses policies related to death and dying, including the Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) policy. John Westerman leaves University Hospitals. C. Edward Schwartz, who had been chief operating officer of the University of Michigan Hospitals, is named director
1984 There is a Minnesota Nurses Association strike in June. Nurses at the University Hospitals do not strike, but hospital admissions rise temporarily in response to it. The first MRI for human diagnostic exam is performed at the University Hospitals on December 31
1985 The University of Minnesota Clinical Associates, Inc. is established. This group of physicians is responsible for representing their respective services in contract negotiations with the hospital. Unit J, the new University Hospitals building, opens
1986 The “Patients First” program is established to encourage a cultural change and positive attitude of hospital staff toward patients. There is an Infection Control Committee appointed largely to ensure that University Hospitals standards are effective in combatting AIDS transmission
1987 C. Edward Schwartz resigns. Gregory Hart, who received his bachelors and Masters in Hospital Administration (MHA) degrees from the University of Minnesota, is appointed interim hospital director. Robert Dickler, who also received his MHA from Minnesota, is later appointed hospital director
1992 Robert Dickler resigns. Gregory Hart becomes director
1993 The University of Minnesota Health System [UMHS] is created, joining together the Hospital, clinics and University of Minnesota Physicians. Gregory Hart is named President of the UMHS
1995 Gregory Hart resigns and Peter F. Rapp, who received his master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University, is appointed director
1997 The University Hospital is sold to the Fairview Health System