Houston Methodist Hospital

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Houston Methodist Hospital opened in 1919, in the middle of the Spanish influenza epidemic. It began as an outreach ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, near downtown Houston. Today it stands as the flagship quaternary care hospital of the Houston Methodist academic medical center, inside the Texas Medical Center.

  U.S. News & World Report has repeatedly named it one of America's best hospitals. The recognition spans cardiovascular surgery, cancer care, epilepsy treatment, and organ transplantation. A ministry born out of a flu epidemic grew into a name attached to some of medicine's most demanding specialties.

  How did that ministry become a hospital known across the country for what it could do inside an operating room? What happened when Houston's own weather turned against the hospital, more than once? And what decision, decades after its founding, would put Houston Methodist in national headlines for a reason that had nothing to do with surgery?

• 2. Storms And Flooded Basements

  ›

  In 1976, torrential rain brought more than $20 million in flood damage to the Texas Medical Center. The storm cut electricity to three hospitals and pushed six feet of water into Methodist's basement.

  On the 8th of June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison unleashed as much as 37 inches of rain across parts of Houston. It marked the worst flood Houston had seen up to that point, and the Texas Medical Center took the brunt of the damage. Roughly 40 feet of water filled the hospital's basement and pushed into the neurosensory building. Staff discharged 400 patients, and the hospital did not reopen fully until five weeks later. Total damage from Allison reached an estimated $360 million.

• 3. DeBakey's Firsts

  ›

  Michael E. DeBakey was born in 1908 and spent years on the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine. He later held the title of Chancellor Emeritus there. At Houston Methodist, he carried out the first-ever removal of a carotid artery blockage, in 1950.

  Three years later, in 1953, DeBakey created the first Dacron graft. In 1964, he carried out the first aorto-coronary bypass surgery at the hospital. By 1966, he used a ventricular assist device for the first time, to pump blood and support a heart that was failing.

  DeBakey performed some of the earliest heart transplants in the United States at Houston Methodist, in 1968 and 1969. DeBakey died in 2008.

• 4. Growing Beyond Downtown

  ›

  The hospital's original home stood near downtown Houston, before a $1 million donation from Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen changed its course. That gift funded a move to the Texas Medical Center, where a 300-bed facility opened in 1951.

  By 2018, the Texas Medical Center campus had grown to 900 licensed beds, 1,890 affiliated physicians, and 7,420 employees.

  In 1996, Houston Methodist was formed to carry health services past the Texas Medical Center's walls and into neighborhoods across greater Houston. The new network combined the existing Texas Medical Center facility with several newly built regional hospitals. In 2013, Houston Methodist System changed its official name to Houston Methodist. The change was meant to set it apart from more than 80 Methodist Hospitals across the U.S. and to reflect its own Houston roots. Today, the wider network includes eight hospitals, an academic institute, a primary care group, and more than 300 locations spread across greater Houston.

  That network includes seven community hospitals, a continuing care hospital, and several emergency centers and physical therapy clinics throughout the region. Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital opened in Baytown in 1948, funded by Humble Oil and Refining Company and other local donors. It was formerly known as Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital and joined the network in 1983. Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital opened in Sugar Land in 1998. Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital opened in Houston in December 2000. Houston Methodist West Hospital opened in December 2010, serving Katy and the West Houston area. Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital was formerly known as Houston Methodist St. John Hospital. It serves the Greater Bay Area with 657 affiliated physicians and 858 employees, admitting more than 5,700 patients a year. Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital opened in 2017, with 553 affiliated physicians and 900 employees of its own. Houston Methodist Continuing Care Hospital in Katy serves patients who need extended hospitalization. It operates as a long-term acute care extension of Houston Methodist West Hospital, located two miles away. Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital was announced in May 2021, planned for the east side of the Northwest Freeway between Barker-Cypress and Skinner roads.

• 5. Records In The Operating Room

  ›

  In 1968, surgeons at Houston Methodist performed the world's first multi-organ transplant. In 1985, the hospital carried out the first heart-lung transplant in Texas. That same year, Hartwell Whisennand performed the hospital's first liver transplant.

  In 1998, Michael J. Reardon performed the first successful auto-transplant for cardiac malignancy at the hospital. In 2007, Gerald Lawrie performed the world's first "American Correction" mitral valve repair, using the da Vinci surgical robot. In 2015, physicians at the hospital carried out the world's first skull and scalp transplant, along with kidney and pancreas transplants, on a single patient.

  U.S. News & World Report most recently ranked Houston Methodist Hospital in 2021, placing it first in Texas and 16th nationally. That year, the hospital was nationally ranked in ten specialties. It also earned maximum points for superior performance in all 17 of 17 common adult procedures and conditions measured. Houston Methodist also runs a dedicated center for innovation in digital platforms for healthcare delivery.

• 6. Academic And Research Ties

  ›

  Weill Cornell Medical College and the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University are among Houston Methodist's academic partners. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is also part of that academic network. From 1950 to 2004, Houston Methodist was affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine.

  Rice University connects to the hospital through its Digital Health Institute, its Center for Neural Systems Restoration, and its Center for Human Performance. Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine is another partner institution. In 2019, the two schools launched EnMed, an Engineering Medicine program offering students a combined MD and a master's degree in engineering.

  Houston Methodist, the University of Houston, and Weill Cornell Medical College jointly founded the Institute for Biomedical Imaging Science. It was designed to build joint programs in biomedical imaging and train both basic and applied scientists.

  The United Methodist Church, through its Texas Annual Conference, provides Houston Methodist's religious affiliation as a Christian hospital network.

• 7. The Vaccine Mandate

  ›

  On the 7th of June 2021, Houston Methodist required its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. It was the nation's first hospital system to mandate the vaccine for its own staff. By June 2021, COVID-19 had caused more than 3.7 million deaths worldwide.

  The mandate covered all 26,000 employees across the hospital system, who needed a first dose by the same June date. It was not the hospital's first vaccine rule; flu shots have been required for every Houston Methodist employee since 2009.

  By the deadline, 99% of employees complied with the mandate. Less than 0.6% of employees quit or were fired for refusing the shot, and a small group received medical exemptions or deferrals. Ahead of the deadline, the hospital placed 178 unvaccinated employees on suspension, and 25 of them got the shot during that two-week window.

  Houston Methodist's CEO, Dr. Marc Boom, explained that healthcare workers carry "a sacred obligation to care for patients." He said the mandate lined up with "our responsibility to keep patients safe." Boom later said he felt no regret, calling it "the best decision we ever made." A hospital analysis credited the mandate with sparing roughly 300 employees from illness during the 2021 Delta surge. Among the employees who still fell ill, Boom reported milder symptoms overall, and none of them died.

  A group of 117 employees sued the hospital, arguing the vaccine was "experimental." Prominent vaccine critics, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., backed many of the lawsuits. The pushback proved small and short-lived. Some of those same medical workers walked off the job on the 7th of June. On the 12th of June 2021, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes threw out the case, rejecting as "false" the claim that the vaccine was experimental. He also found that the policy broke no state or federal law and did not amount to "coercion." By the 22nd of June 2021, 153 Houston Methodist employees had either resigned or been let go for refusing the vaccine.

  Other hospital systems followed Houston Methodist's example; by October 2021, about 41% of hospitals nationwide had some form of vaccine mandate in place. On the 1st of December 2023, the hospital rolled back the policy ahead of a new Texas law banning private employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccines. Houston Methodist never required its employees to get updated shots for newer COVID-19 variants.