The District of Columbia's financial oversight board is shutting down inpatient care at financially troubled 250-bed District of Columbia General Hospital and turning over management of its outpatient and emergency departments to an alliance led by nearby 305-bed Greater Southeast Community Hospital.
Last week's decision will give for-profit hospitals new inroads into caring for the 572,000 residents of the District of Columbia.
The D.C. Healthcare Alliance will provide inpatient care at Greater Southeast, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Doctors Community Healthcare Corp.; 277-bed George Washington University Hospital, owned by King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services; and not-for-profit 188-bed Children's National Medical Center.
About 1,500 workers will lose their jobs.
The contract with the D.C. Healthcare Alliance will cost an estimated $93 million per year, less than the $122 million that Public Benefit Corp. spent in fiscal 2000. Public Benefit Corp. was temporarily in charge of healthcare at D.C. General and public health clinics in the city.
The alliance will lease space from the D.C. government at the building that formerly housed D.C. General.
