[1] He testified to a legislative committee of New York State in 1969, stating that hospitals in New York City were "on the brink of fiscal disaster" due to reductions in Medicaid funding and calling the system of paying for hospital and medical care "a disaster" in which the majority of people statewide could not get affordable and accessible health care.
[1] Derzon was named as administrator of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center in 1970, serving in the position until 1977.
[1] As part of a series of recommendations to United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph A. Califano, Jr. sent in June 1977, Derzon supported the nationwide implementation of living will laws that had been enacted in California, suggesting that Federal aid be withheld to states that did not pass such laws.
The memorandum also raised concerns about the growth in the number of physicians, estimating that the 85,000 additional doctors added by 1980 would generate $5 billion in revenue while increasing costs for hospital care, suggesting that cuts in the number of new doctors might be necessary and might well be supported by the American Medical Association.
[5] A resident of Mill Valley, California, Derzon died of swine flu at age 78 on June 17, 2009, while visiting a friend in Orangeville, Ontario.