In 1974, Springfield Hospital Medical Center merged with its neighbor, Wesson Women’s Hospital, to create the 672-bed Medical Center of Western Massachusetts. In 1976, the Medical Center of Western Massachusetts merged with Wesson Memorial Hospital, located about two miles away. The merger established Baystate Medical Center, then the second-largest hospital in New England, with 1,036 beds.
In 1983, Baystate Medical Center was reorganized into three separate corporations: Baystate Health Systems, the parent corporation now renamed Baystate Health; Baystate Medical Center; and a for-profit corporation known as Baystate Diversified Health Services. The reorganization provided a legal framework for developing a future multi-institutional health care system and for reducing the assets that would be encumbered with the financing of a major new hospital building
