Willamette Valley Medical Center - History

History

In 1904, the first hospital is established in McMinnville. In the early 1970s, the then 40 bed McMinnville Community Hospital was sold to outside investors. The building was located on South Baker Street in downtown near Linfield College. In September 1987, Hospital Corporation of America sold McMinnville Community Hospital and 101 other medical centers to Health Trust, a company created by the employees.

In 1994, owner Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation approved the construction of a new campus near the city’s airport. Built on the 35 acres (140,000 m2) the new facility cost $45 million to build and was more than twice as big as the former hospital. The new 67-bed campus opened in March 1996 and was constructed by McDevitt Street Bovis. The hospital was then renamed as Columbia Willamette Valley Medical Center.

In 1995, the hospital was named one of America’s 100 Top Hospitals by Mercer Health Care Provider Consulting and HCIA, Inc. out of 3,400 hospitals nationwide. A occupational medicine clinic was added in 1999. In 1999, Columbia/HCA created two subsidiaries and sold the hospital to Triad, one of those two spin-offs.

In 2001, the hospital had revenues of $88.3 million and an operating profit of $10.5 million. In October 2002, a 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) cancer treatment center was opened at a cost of $5.5 million. Community Health Systems purchased Triad in a $6.8 billion deal in July 2007, acquiring the McMinnville medical center. In March 2008, the hospital was one of nine facilities sold by Community Health Systems to Capella Healthcare.