Bureau of Medical Services

Both incarnations of the bureau had the principal responsibility of operating the PHS hospital system that had been founded in 1789.

The first incarnation of BMS also had responsibilities in medical examination of foreigners entering the country, funding construction of hospitals by the states, researching the effective utilization of medical personnel and services, and providing healthcare to Native Americans.

The original BMS was broken up at the beginning of the Public Health Service reorganizations of 1966–1973, but a second incarnation of BMS was established at their end as a division of the Health Services Administration within PHS.

This incarnation of BMS inherited only the hospital system and closely related functions, with the other programs located in other divisions.

[8] As of 1957, the hospital system provided free healthcare to U.S. merchant seamen; active and retired United States Coast Guard personnel, officers of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps, and their dependents; members of the general public with leprosy or narcotics addiction; and federal employees with compensable job-related illnesses and injuries.

The Division of Hospital and Medical Resources was abolished in 1953, and the latter two mere merged into their counterparts in the Bureau of State Services in 1960.

[8] These divisions researched the effective utilization of dental and nursing personnel and services.

[14][18] In 1980, BMS ran eight general hospitals in Boston, Staten Island, Baltimore, Norfolk, New Orleans, Nassau Bay, San Francisco, and Seattle, plus 28 outpatient clinics and the National Leprosarium.

The administrator of the Seattle Hospital even refused to stop admitting patients even after being specifically directed to do so by authorities in Washington, leading to a confrontation between him and eight federal inspectors.

[22] The opposition led to Congress approving additional funds to improve the hospitals to state and local standards, so they could continue to be operated by other agencies or organizations.

[22] Ultimately, five hospitals were transferred to non-governmental entities, two to the Department of Defense, and one to the State of Louisiana.

[24] The Division of Federal Occupational Health remained in the merged bureau,[26] but by 2003, it had been transferred to the Program Support Center, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration.

The Chief of the Bureau of Medical Services was one of the positions holding the title of Assistant Surgeon General.

The Staten Island PHS Hospital was established in 1831, with the current main building constructed in the 1930s. After 1981 it became a private hospital. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
The Pacific Medical Center in Seattle opened in 1933. After 1981 it was transferred to the City of Seattle, which leased the building as office space. [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
The PHS Hospital San Francisco was established in 1875, with the current building constructed in 1932. After 1981 it was used as a branch of the Defense Language Institute , was vacant for two decades, and then reopened in 2010 as apartments. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
The Nassau Bay PHS Hospital opened in 1972 as a private hospital, but it went bankrupt a few years later and was taken over by PHS, replacing the Galveston hospital. It became private again after 1981. [ 7 ]
A 1980 pamphlet about the Bureau of Medical Services within the Health Services Administration
Boston PHS Hospital
Baltimore PHS Hospital
New Orleans PHS Hospital
Detroit PHS Hospital
Chicago PHS Hospital
R. C. Williams was the first Chief of the Bureau of Medical Services