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The Pacific Hospital Preservation and Development Authority was originally a U.S. Public Health Hospital. Opened in 1933 as the Marine Hospital, it served primarily merchant seamen. Over the years, the patient population grew to include commercial fishermen, Native Americans, Alaska natives, and Coast Guard, NOAA, and other uniformed services’ personnel and their dependents. Marine Hospitals also historically were responsible for performing health inspections of all newly arriving immigrants and preventing disease importation. In 1951, the hospital was redesignated as a U.S. Public Health Service hospital. In 1971, the hospital pioneered a new direction for the national Public Health Service when it began to serve patients referred by a local network of community clinics. Following the hospital’s example, in 1978 the entire Public Health Service system expanded its mission to include “medically underserved” populations in collaboration with local community programs. In 1979, the Art Deco-style Seattle Public Health Service Hospital was placed on the list of National Historic Places. In 1981, the federal government announced its decision to close Public Health Service hospitals. A massive community effort to save the Seattle Public Health Service Hospital was mounted in response. In November of 1981, the City of Seattle chartered the hospital as a public development authority (PHPDA), a partly private, partly public organization. The federal government transferred control of the property to the new Public Health Hospital Preservation and Development Authority. The organization formally adopted the name Pacific Hospital Preservation and Development Authority (PHPDA) in 1985. Outpatient clinics were developed to meet the needs of the Department of Defense (DOD) patients living in communities outside the City of Seattle. These services were provided by the Pacific Health Associates of Seattle (PHASE), a nonprofit group practice. The relationship between the PHPDA and DOD was a significant part of the PHPDA's history. In 1981, the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan (USFHP) was created, to finance health care for retired military personnel, their families, and the families of active duty personnel. The hospital was designated as one of seven Uniformed Services Treatment Facilities in the United States, and a contract for services was signed with the DOD. Through the 1980s, the PHPDA, operating the Pacific Medical Centers hospital, continued to provide both hospital and ambulatory care. However, the facility became increasingly outdated and was unable to be cost-effectively upgraded to meet the developing standards for acute care hospitals. In 1987, the PHPDA management decided to close the hospital: costs of upgrading the facility were high; there were issues of seismic readiness; and finances were difficult as patient volumes were too low to sustain operations at that location. Outpatient medical care services continued to be provided. In November 1987, King County voters approved a regional health bond that provided $9.3 million for seismic stabilization of the Beacon Hill Tower. Four years later, the PHPDA signed an Interlocal Agreement with King County, ensuring that the PHPDA would provide health care services to indigent residents of King County for the period of time that the bonds remained outstanding or for 20 years, whichever was longer. The facility underwent construction from 1991–1994. Rather than retrofitting the entire structure with new support beams and trusses, the architects decided to build a structure on the north side of the building, creating a buttress to the landmark Tower while also providing additional clinic and office space. When completed, the building received an honor from the American Institute of Architects for being “utterly responsive to the original building” and “a wonderful seismic solution.” In 1992, the PHPDA created the Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP) with the aid of a four-year grant from the Kellogg Foundation. The program educated health care professionals on cross cultural awareness and its implication in health care delivery, and created training videos and teaching curriculums for other health care organizations across the country. In 2002, CCHCP was spun off to form an independent 501(c)3 organization. Between 1987 and 1998, the hospital remained closed, although numerous attempts were made to find a lessee or lessees for the vacant space. Then, in 1998, the PHPDA received federal approval to lease a portion of the building to a non-health care organization. The agreement that grew out of this request required that the PHPDA use 100% of all lease revenues to provide charity health care for the poor in King County. The PHPDA then signed a 99-year lease with Wright Runstad, a local real estate development company. The company also committed to upgrades to the Tower, including safety systems and building improvements. Wright Runstad then found a long-term tenant in Amazon.com, which agreed to sub-lease floors 1-14 of the Tower until 2009. From 2001–2003, financial difficulties facing the PHPDA (dba Pacific Medical Centers Clinics) led to important long-term changes in the business. The organization retained a turnaround company, which recommended changes in the organization’s governance structure. The PHPDA Governing Council amended its charter in late 2002, reducing the size of the Governing Council from 15 to 9 members and refocusing its mission from administering a group practice to funding charity health care. Then, in June 2003, the clinical group practice was separated from the PHPDA, forming a separate 501(c)3 health care organization, PacMed Clinics (dba Pacific Medical Centers). Since the separation, the focus of the PHPDA has been to provide stewardship for the historic property, manage the lease revenues, and ensure provision of charity health care services that it purchases. In September 2003, the first executive director of the PHPDA was hired. In 2004, the Interlocal Agreement between the PHPDA and King County was amended to reflect the organizational changes and to clarify the charity care commitment and reporting requirements. The PHPDA agreed to present quarterly reports of its charity care funding to the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health and to ensure the provision of a minimum of $1.5 million annually in services to the indigent. This goal was exceeded in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
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Marine Hospital
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