Henry Ford Health System history

Pictured from left to right: The first hospital staff in 1916 - Bottom row from left: Doctor Charles H. Watt, Doctor Frank J. Sladen, Doctor Roy D. McClure, Ernest G. Liebold, John N.E. Brown, Doctor F. Janney Smith.

On April 6, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson and the United States Congress declared war on Germany and the country began to mobilize for the war effort.

After the war ended on November 11, 1918, hospital facilities were needed to care for the hundreds of wounded and ailing American soldiers as they returned home.

By February 1919, the first patients were received at the hospital.

The hospital was returned to Henry Ford by the government on January 1, 1920, and the original staff returned from their army service and again opened the hospital.

On May 9, 1922 - the first baby was delivered at the hospital by Drs.

In 1923 a psychiatric care unit was added, and two years later the Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing began operations, with students housed in the 300-room Clara Ford Nurses' Home.

The expanded hospital campus facilitated the foundation of the Henry Ford School of Nursing and Hygiene in 1925.

Albert S. Crawford, M.D. was the first Henry Ford Hospital neurosurgeon and founded the department in 1926.

The growth and prosperity of the hospital was interrupted again in 1929 when the Stock Market crashed.

Although the growth of the hospital was minimal during these years of economic hardship, it experienced a huge gain when Doctor Conrad R. Lam, a Texan who had trained at Yale, came to Henry Ford Hospital in 1932 for his internship and residency under Doctor McClure.

Lam was appointed to the staff in 1938, and soon began to specialize in thoracic and cardiac surgery.

The Edsel B. Ford Institute for Medical Research was established at Henry Ford Hospital in 1947 as the Hospital's formal division of scientific research.

Detroit’s massive growth during this period again required physical expansion, and the 17-story Clinic Building was finished in 1955 with funding from the Ford Foundation.

After Detroit's deadly 1967 riots many white citizens fled to the suburbs, which caused a drop in population and tax revenue that had a devastating effect on the city.

The hospital sought ways to adapt, and in 1971 it opened a small clinic and computer-operations site in the northern suburb of Troy.

In 1975, Henry Ford Hospital developed two satellite hospitals in suburban West Bloomfield and Dearborn, and over the next 10 years added five more.

Improvements and additions at the Detroit campus continued throughout this period, and included the construction of the Benson Ford Education and Research Building opened in 1977 and a 190-unit apartment building for house officers and their families.

Another 200 jobs were cut a month later, while the firm also stopped accepting Medicaid patients into HAP and sold the money-losing Medical Value Plan HMO. HFHS reported a loss of $44 million for the fiscal year, its first red ink since 1982.

In 1983 a parent organization called the Henry Ford Health Care Corporation was created to oversee the activities of the various divisions.

In 1986 the company bought 178-bed Cottage Hospital of Grosse Pointe and a 26-year-old health maintenance organization called Health Alliance Plan (HAP), which had originally been founded to serve members of the United Auto Workers union.

In 1987 Kingswood Hospital, a psychiatric care facility in Ferndale, was also acquired, and the next year the firm purchased Wyandotte Hospital, which was located in one of Detroit's southern suburbs.

In 1988 Gail Warden was named president and CEO of the organization, taking the place of the departing Stan Nelson.

Also in 1990, the medical school and research department were consolidated to create the Henry Ford Health Sciences Center.

In the fall of 1991 HFHS laid off several hundred workers, made cuts to programs, and instituted other cost-cutting measures as earnings fell because of the stalled United States economy and changes to the healthcare industry.

In late 1992 another $150 million bond offering was completed, with funds used to expand facilities and refinance debt.

In October 1995 HFHS bought Horizon Health System, which owned two osteopathic hospitals in the southern suburbs of Detroit with more than 400 beds, plus several ambulatory care centers, doctors' offices, a home health-care agency, and a teaching program.

In 1996 HAP formed a new for-profit subsidiary, Alliance Health and Life Insurance Company, to offer point-of-service and preferred provider organization health plans that were targeted to midsize employers.

In 1997 HAP formed an alliance with William Beaumont, an operator of several large hospitals in Detroit's suburbs, to join its network of healthcare providers.

In early 1998 Josephine Ford donated $10 million to HFHS to make improvements to its cancer center, which was renamed in her honor.

In March 1999, 425 additional job cuts were announced, followed in July by 250 more, as HAP also cut 3,000 Medicaid patients from its rolls.

For 2001 the firm reported revenues of $2.5 billion and a record loss of $87.7 million.

——, "Henry Ford Health, WSU to Join Forces," Detroit Free Press, November 20, 2002.

For fiscal 2003 the company reported a net profit of $11.7 million, up from a near-equal loss the year before.

In May 2004 HFHS announced it would open a new $1 million clinic on the east side of Detroit to serve insured, non-Medicaid residents of the city who typically sought treatment in the suburbs.

For 2005, revenues topped $3 billion and net income hit $112 million.

The company owns and operates four acute-care hospitals with a fifth under construction as of 2006, and also holds stakes in five other hospitals through two joint ventures.

Projected to open in 2008, the hospital would include such amenities as 300 private rooms with Internet access and flat-screen televisions, a spa, a business center, 24-hour gourmet room service, and an auditorium for healthy cooking classes.

In March of 2009, Henry Ford Health System opened the state-of-the-art, 730,000 square foot Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital adjacent to the existing medical center.

The Henry Ford Hospital main campus on Grand Boulevard was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 2013.