Timeline:

1947
December 2, 1947 - San Mateo County residents voted to create the elected board responsible for developing and opening a new hospital in San Mateo County.

1954
March 2, 1954 - After two and a half years of construction, the Peninsula Hospital opened in Burlingame. The new hospital, built primarily through taxpayers’ support, provided 153 beds and carried a staff of 275 employees and 100 physicians and surgeons.

1960
Peninsula Hospital changed its name to Peninsula Hospital and Medical Center.

1978
Peninsula established a Cardiovascular Surgery program at the hospital through an affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco.

1979
Peninsula celebrated its 25th anniversary, as well as signed a joint planning agreement with Mills Memorial Hospital in the city of San Mateo.

1985
Peninsula (Burlingame) and Mills (San Mateo) hospitals merged to form Mills-Peninsula Hospitals in an effort to expand the scope and quality of services provided to residents. Both Mills and Peninsula continued to operate as full service hospitals.

As part of the consolidation, the District Board leased the Peninsula Medical Center and its land to Mills-Peninsula Health Services, a private non-profit group that assumed management of the hospital. At this time, the District also donated 7 parcels of land to Mills-Peninsula Health Services.

1994
The State of California passed Senate Bill 1953, establishing stricter safety standards for general acute care hospitals, which must be complied with by 2013. Mills-Peninsula and the District did two independent studies, both concluding that the only feasible approach would be to re-build the hospital. Although a retrofit was possible, the cost was prohibitive and there was no guarantee that the hospital could remain open during the retrofit.

1996
Mills-Peninsula joined Sutter Health, a non-profit health system of 27 hospitals in Northern and Central California. The Peninsula campus officially became Peninsula Medical Center and inpatient care was consolidated there. At this point, ICU and inpatient services were eliminated at the Mills Health Center in San Mateo. The Family Birth Center opened at the Peninsula Medical Center.

1997
The District filed a lawsuit against Mills-Peninsula Health Services for alleged conflict of interest in the original lease.

1999
The District Board began negotiating the terms of a new hospital lease and the construction of a proposed new hospital with Mills-Peninsula.

2000
A Letter of Intent was signed to restructure the relationship between Peninsula Health Care District and Mills-Peninsula Health Services. The revised agreement outlined terms to negotiate the settlement of the 1997 lawsuit, including the lease arrangement, the District’s degree of oversight and the return of properties to the District.

2002-2003
A proposal for a new $400 million, not-for-profit community hospital and restructured relationship with the Peninsula Health Care District was submitted by Mills-Peninsula for consideration and was reviewed by the District Board and the public.

2004
In response to the last proposal, a new Letter of Intent was submitted to the District and was reviewed by the District Board and the public. The new agreement ensures District ownership of the entire site, would allow MPHS to build a new seismically-safe hospital for the community and would lease 21 acres of the site to MPHS for 50 years. The District Board unanimously approved this Letter of Intent minus two provisions which have been tabled. Those provisions include a non-compete clause and a deferral clause.

2005
The PHCD Board will begin formalizing a definitive agreement that reflects the Letter of Intent’s principles and to renegotiate the non-compete and deferral clauses for resolution. Once a final agreement is approved by PHCD Board and MPHS, the agreement will be forwarded to the voters for ratification in a special election.

2006
Measure V, the agreement to build the new hospital on District land with no new taxes, is approved by over 92% of the voters. Construction begins a month later.

2007
District Board embarks on its expanded role as landlord, real estate manager, and healthy community advocate, leader and supporter. Strategic Plan developed; Executive Director, Cheryl Fama hired; new office, infrastructure and systems established.