[1] A municipal hospital for most of its existence, it transitioned to non-profit in 1999 and then for-profit when it was purchased by Steward Health Care in 2011.

[2] During its history, the hospital offered a varying range of services, including emergency care, behavioral health, obstetrics, surgery, and orthopedics.

[1] Initially operated as a private corporation, the city began assisting in the funding of the hospital in 1896, providing $1,000 to $5,000 per year.

[5][6] Throughout most of the rest of the 20th century, the city provided millions in funding on reconstruction and improvement projects for the hospital.

This led to a change in June 2011, when the hospital's board of trustees approved a deal that would see the hospital acquired by Steward Health Care, a for-profit Massachusetts health care system then owned by New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

[10] Steward received necessary approvals from state officials, including the Public Health Council and Attorney General Martha Coakley,[11] and the acquisition was completed September 30, 2011.

[5] In its later years, the saturation of the health care market took its toll on Quincy Medical Center.

While it provided convenience to residents of Quincy, the hospital's deteriorating relationships with other providers left more preferable options for a wider range of care,[5] and the presence of nearby regional competitors like South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's campus in Milton, and numerous hospitals in Boston offered more convenience and higher level of care for those not within city limits.