The Merger of UCSF Medical Center and Stanford Health Services

Abstract:

On November 15, 1996, Stanford’s Board of Trustees and the University of California (UC) Board of Regents voted to merge their two academic medical centers; on November 1, 1997, the merger became official. However, less than two years later, in October 1999, the merger came to an abrupt end. Was the merger an ill-conceived “snakebit venture” or a reasonable response to the environmental and economic pressures of the time that fell apart in its execution? Would the same ills have befallen Stanford and UCSF regardless of the merger?