University of Alabama at Birmingham - Health System

Health System

The UAB Health System (UABHS) is a partnership between UAB and the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (UAHSF), a private not-for-profit medical practice made up of the faculty of the UAB School of Medicine. UABHS is governed by a board of directors which has representatives of UAHSF, the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, and UAB administrators. The UAB president is the ex officio chairperson of the UAB Health System. The CEO of the UABHS reports directly to the UAB Health System board and is appointed by the chairman of the board.

UAB Hospital is the central institution of UABHS. It was formed as University Hospital in 1945 from the merger of Jefferson Hospital and Hillman Hospital, two private hospitals in the Southside of Birmingham acquired by the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. University Hospital was created to serve as the primary teaching hospital for the School of Medicine.

The other major institutions of UABHS include:

  • Kirklin Clinic, the outpatient clinic of UAB Hospital
  • Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital, founded independently as the Eye Foundation Hospital in 1963 and merged into UABHS in 1973,
  • UAB Women and Infants Center
  • UAB Highlands. Formerly HealthSouth's flagship medical center in the Southside, UABHS acquired it in 2006. Highlands now serves as an acute care hospital (there is no emergency room). In 2010, UABHS announced plans to merge Highlands completely into UAB Hospital.
  • Spain Rehabilitation Center
  • UAB Health Centers, clinics operated and staffed by UABHS located throughout central Alabama
  • Viva Health, a health maintenance organization (HMO) which is a subsidiary of Triton Health Systems, a limited liability corporation based in Birmingham and owned by the UABHS

In addition UABHS manages, but does not operate, Medical West in Bessemer and Baptist Health in Montgomery. UABHS also has affiliations with the Birmingham VA Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Alabama, and Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville.

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