Boston Public Health Commission

Historical note

The Boston Public Health Commission, whose mission is to protect, preserve and promote the health and well-being of all Boston's residents, particularly the underserved, began in 1799 when an ordinance was passed to create a Board of Health for the Town of Boston. The Public Health Commission was formed in 1996 as a result of the merger between the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Boston University Medical Center. Both the Department of Health and Department of Hospitals were city departments and functioned as separate entities from the time of their creation until 1965, when they merged in order to provide a more efficient health care system. The Department of Hospitals included Boston City Hospital, the Boston Specialty and Rehabilitation Hospital (Mattapan Chronic Disease Hospitals), and the Long Island Hospital. From 1970 through the early 1990s, great effort was made to reorganize and modernize Boston City Hospital's physical plant, including building a new Boston City Hospital. In 1996, however, the Mayor's Special Commission on Health Care was formed to study the challenges of health care provision and administration in the 21st century and it recommended that the Department of Health and Hospitals merge with Boston University Medical Center.

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