The roots of Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center can be traced back to the humble beginnings of Paintsville Hospital. Paintsville Hospital opened its doors and began accepting patients on Nov. 6, 1920. The hospital's brochure for its opening day in 1920 declared that the hospital had "one of the best X-Ray machines that is on the market and we are prepared by its aid to examine your lungs, broken bones, bullet wounds, and other troubles of the human body." The brochure also stated that the hospital's "modern, up-to-date building" had "forty spacious rooms, spacious hallways, porches, and an extra large sun parlor for convalescents".
The namesake of Johnson County's current regional hospital - Dr. Paul B. Hall - came on staff of Paintsville Hospital in 1922. He served as chief of staff from 1934 until 1981, when his surgeon son - Dr. Robert A. Hall - took over the leadership position.
By 1979, the aging hospital was having trouble meeting the State Fire Marshal's standards. While the hospital's occupancy rate and its standard of care were still high, regulatory agencies mandated that the hospital must secure a firm commitment to replace the original structure with a new structure and the grounds to Hospital Management Associates (HMA) of Louisville.
In March 1979, HMA filed a Certificate of Need with the State of Kentucky to replace the original facility. The battle to gain this Certificate of Need pressed on for nearly three years until the status was finally awarded on July 15, 1981. In February 1982, the City of Paintsville sold HMA a key tract of its Urban Renewal Project property, and on April 19, 1982, construction began on the new Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center. The new facility opened in September 1983.
While much has changed in the nearly 90 years since Paintsville Hospital came into existence and later spawned Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center, the desire among the physicians and staff at the facility to provide families in the five-county region access to quality healthcare at home has remained constant.