For more than 100 years, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Milton (formerly Milton Hospital) has been committed to improving the health of the communities it serves by providing high-quality, personalized health care with compassion, dignity and respect. The roots of this tradition lie in a tiny convalescent home that was established in the late 19th century. In 1903, the Cunningham Foundation Trustees offered a portion of the Edward Cunningham Estate as a new site for the home, requiring that part of the building function as a hospital and paying for the necessary renovations. Milton Hospital was officially incorporated in 1903; it opened with just nine beds.
In 1944, the third and current site of BID Milton on Highland Street was purchased from the Pierce Estate. A newly constructed, modern hospital building opened in 1950. Over the next forty years the hospital added new patient wings and a medical office building. In 1987, the hospital constructed a patient service wing and a new main entrance. Renovations on existing space provided for a new emergency department, ambulatory care unit, diagnostic services department, intensive care/coronary care unit, operating suites and conference area.
In the early 1990s the need for physicians became stronger. In response, Milton Hospital opened primary care offices in Randolph, Braintree, Quincy and Hyde Park. A new wing to the medical office building was built in 1993. The medical office building now houses more than 50 physicians representing more than 22 different medical specialties.
The hospital went on to add an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program for patients recovering from heart disease and a 21-bed transitional care unit. In 1998, the unit was renovated, resulting in the addition of 11 beds. By 2000, BID Milton had redesigned its mammography suites, and purchased two new mammography machines. The expansion of the breast care program also included upright stereotactic localization devices for performing minimally invasive breast biopsies.
To make BID Milton's services more accessible to Randolph residents, the hospital opened the Community Physicians Office in Randolph Square in September 2000. In August 2002, the hospital debuted a $3.5 million renovation of its two inpatient floors.
BID Milton is surveyed periodically by the following organizations and licensed and accredited if deemed appropriate: Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, College of American Pathologists, American Association of Blood Banks, American College of Radiology, American College of Surgeons, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Health Care Financing Administration.
In June 2004 the hospital opened its $3.4 million, 2,800-square-foot MRI Center. The bright, airy center features a $1.8-million scanner that uses state-of-the-art technology to maximize image quality and patient comfort.
In 2005, the hospital completed a clinical affiliation with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, bringing access to additional clinical services for the local community. The affiliation has resulted in an advanced geriatrics program, emergency care that facilitates rapid cardiac and stroke transfers when necessary to the cardiac cath lab at Beth Israel Deaconess, a Hospitalist program to care for inpatients, and more.
In response to growing demand and changes in health care delivery, BID Milton undertook a major expansion and renovation project, beginning in 2005. Completed in 2008, the project resulted in a new Emergency Department, an enlarged, dedicated Endoscopy Center and an updated Surgical Services Center that includes two new and four renovated operating rooms. Each of these clinical areas routinely earn patient satisfaction scores that rank among the best in the nation. Other features of the project include remodeled laboratory and phlebotomy areas, expanded free parking, improved wayfinding, and a soothing, sun-soaked lobby area.
In 2009, BID Milton expanded its relationship with Atrius Health to establish a new model of health care delivery. In 2012, BID Milton joined the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) system as a corporate affiliate. Continued expansion in 2018 led to the addition of 12 new private rooms and the opening of a seventh operating room.
On March 1, 2019, BID Milton became part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, creating an integrated health care system that provides high-quality care, close to where our patients live and work.
Today, BID Milton is a 100-bed leading regional community hospital with a complete complement of inpatient and outpatient health services, 24-hour emergency services and more than 600 physicians on staff, as well as 32,000 Emergency Department visits and over 1,000 joint replacements annually.
