New York State Department of Health Bureau of Tuberculosis Control General Hospital Admission Chest X-ray Program…

Arranged in three subseries: Subseries 1, Program Files, 1934-1966, 2 c.f.; Subseries 2, Discontinued Hospital Programs Correspondence, 1948-1973, 1.75 c.f.; and Subseries 3, Equipment Purchase and Service Files, 1946-1959, 0.25 c.f.

Subseries 1 is arranged roughly by activity and therein chronologically (New York City files are separate from upstate files); Subseries 2 is alphabetical within subgroup by hospital name, then chronological within hospital file (New York City files are separate); and Subseries 3 is roughly alphabetical by vendor name and therein chronological.

The chest x-ray program lent state-purchased x-ray equipment to general hospitals admitting 4,000 or more patients annually. The hospitals screened both inpatient and outpatient admissions. The Health Department reimbursed hospitals for each chest x-ray reading and used the hospital reports to develop statistical information about tuberculosis morbidity and mortality rates.

Important Department of Health officials in development of the case-finding programs were Robert E. Plunkett, M.D., Assistant Commissioner for Tuberculosis Control, and Bureau Directors William Siegal, M.D., Henry H. Shultz, M.D., and Julius Katz, M.D. New York City Department of Hospitals officials responsible for the city program were I.D. Bobrowitz, M.D., Commissioner, and Aaron D. Chavez, M.D., Director of the Tuberculosis Control Program for the city Departments of Health and Hospitals.

The administrative files contain background research, correspondence, and memoranda describing program development and policies, statistical summaries, equipment records, and individual hospital program files. The series documents department responses to declining case-finding statistics, difficult field administration, and changing medical practice.

Subseries 1, Program Files. Files for the upstate General Hospital Admission Chest X-ray Program contain results of research investigating the need for legislation authorizing free care for tuberculosis victims and the need for the general hospital admission program; correspondence, memoranda, and reports discussing program development, problems, and policy; procedures manuals; case-finding statistical summaries for 1947-1963; hospital applications to enter the program; and hospital requests for equipment and reimbursement. There also are statistical summaries for the Mass Survey X-ray Program for 1957-1958. New York City program files contain correspondence, memoranda, reports, manuals, application forms, budget requests, and statistical summaries for 1955-1965.

Subseries 2, Discontinued Hospital Programs Correspondence. General correspondence and memoranda for both the upstate program and the New York City program discuss such issues as hospital facilities and administrative problems; failure to meet x-ray quotas; and merits of different x-ray formats; radiation hazards to hospital staff and patients; case-finding statistical trends; and state program policies. Hospital application requests and requests for equipment and reimbursement contain correspondence discussing eligibility for the program and political considerations in selecting and recruiting participating hospitals.

Correspondence between state program staff and hospital administrators describes each hospital's program; state-loan equipment; patient population; program administration; and problems, such as failure to meet state x-ray quotas, program termination, and disposition of state-owned x-ray equipment.

Subseries 3, Equipment Purchase and Service Files. Correspondence, purchase orders, and charts listing purchase orders describe the x-ray equipment, buses, and repair and maintenance services purchased by the Bureau of Tuberculosis Case Finding for the General Hospital Admission Chest X-ray Program and the Mass Survey Xray Program.

10579Series 10579, New York State Department of Health Bureau of Hospital Certification Director's State Hospital Code Correspondence Files, folder entitled "Section 720.7(h) Routine Chest X-ray," contains records documenting termination of the program.

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