DC Mayor Announces Agreements To Build 2 New District Hospitals

Michael O'Connell
Updated ·5 min read

WASHINGTON, DC — Residents in some of the District's most underserved areas will soon see a boost in the quality of available health care. D.C. officials announced agreements Wednesday night with two local health-care providers to build two new hospitals that will create a network of care for residents in Wards 7 and 8.

"These two hospitals are going to transform our health-care system by promoting equity in care, access, and outcome," Mayor Muriel Bowser said, during a Thursday morning press briefing.

The first agreement is with Universal Health Services (UHS) and The George Washington University Hospital to build a new GW Health Hospital and new ambulatory center on the St. Elizabeths campus. They will also build two new urgent care facilities in Wards 7 and 8.

With a planned fall 2024 opening, the new hospital at St. Elizabeths will start with 136 inpatient beds, which will expand to 196 in the future. Other features include: ICU, surgery, and operating rooms; newborn delivery and women's services; Level II NICU; and an adult and children's emergency department. The facility's physicians, medical students, and research will work in partnership with the George Washington School of Medicine and Medical Faculty Associates. The project will cost $306 million.

The ambulatory center at St. Elizabeths is scheduled to open in fall 2023, offering a full diagnostic and imaging suite, a clinic, and outpatient and speciality surgery. The District will fund the project with $69 million.

UHS will provide $22 million in funding to build the two urgent care facilities in Wards 7 and 8. The facility will offer outpatient and clinical services, along with prenatal care and education. The two facilities will open in fall 2021 and early 2022.

The District also entered an agreement with Howard University Hospital and Adventist HealthCare to open a Level I trauma center and a new academic teaching hospital on the campus of Howard University. The university's current hospital will remain open, while the new 600,000 square-foot hospital is built. Set to open in 2026, the 225-bed hospital will cost $450 million to build.

To help pay for the new Howard University Hospital, the District will provide a $225 million partial tax abatement, as well as a $25 million infrastructure investment. The District will also provide $26.6 million over five years to support the following five Centers of Excellence:

  • Sickle Cell

  • Women's Health

  • Oral Health

  • Trauma and Violence Prevention

  • Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders.

"One of the frustrating realities that we face without a doubt is that we have some of the best hospitals and most talented medical professionals in the world right here in Washington, D.C.," Bowser said. "We also have one of the lowest uninsured rates in the nation. In theory, everyone regardless of ZIP code, income, or race should be able to access world-class care and we shouldn't have major disparities in our health outcomes given our investment in health care. However, we know that that's not how it works."

Generations of racism and discrimination have placed African Americans in D.C. at a major disadvantage in health care, according to the mayor. In addition, hospitals aren't evenly distributed throughout the District, with most being located in the Northwest portion of the city.

"Right now, COVID-19 is laying bare the inequities in our system, not just here in D.C., but across the nation," Bowser said.

As of Thursday morning, 2,138 of the District's 4,323 patients with COVID-19, the illness associated with the new coronavirus, are African Americans, about 50 percent of those infected.

In addition, African Americans account for 177 of the District's 224 deaths due to COVID-19. While African Americans make up 46 percent of the District's population, they account for 80 percent of the COVID-19 deaths.

According to data that Bowser shared, 85 percent of D.C. residents who've died from COVID-19 had chronic, underlying conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, and two or more conditions.

"It is clear that we not only must focus on these issues right now, as we are, but we must focus on the investments in the resources it will take to change those underlying statistics," Bowser said. "Because it's not just COVID that is a cause for concern, but we know these underlying conditions cause so many other problems for people in non-pandemic times."

For example, the average life expectancy for someone in Ward 8 is 15 years less than the life expectancy for someone living in Ward 3.

Earlier this month, Bowser laid out the criteria for reopening the District following the coronavirus pandemic. She saw the reopening and recovery as an opportunity to address many of the long-standing health and social inequities that are causing disparities in the city.

"I have already charged the Reopen DC Advisory Group on how we can implement a phased reopening of of our city that focuses on the health of our residents, how we expand and equalize opportunity, how we make sure our city continues to prosper and comes back from this recession caused by COVID and that we do so equitably," she said, on Thursday.

According to Bowser, the new partnerships with UHS, Adventist HealthCare, Howard University Hospital, and The George Washington University Hospital, are one step toward to improving the quality of care for some of District's most underserved population.

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This article originally appeared on the Washington DC Patch