Mayor Anthony Williams has asked a dozen local health experts, none from Howard University, to study how to best meet the health care needs of local low-income residents — putting one more nail in the coffin of a proposal for a full-service hospital on the former site of D.C. General.
Williams said the task force, to be chaired by Department of Health Director Gregg Pane, would study alternatives to the proposed National Capital Medical Center, a $400 million, 250-bed hospital that was to be built on Reservation 13 in cooperation with Howard University.
The hospital is not defunct, the mayor said, but the project must be weighed against other health care goals geared toward residents east of the Anacostia River, and spending $211 million on a single facility might not be the best allocation of resources.
“We’re looking at how we can, with the money we’re willing to invest, provide health care in the city in a fiscally responsible manner,” Williams said during his weekly press briefing.
The panel will review alternative concepts for Reservation 13, including urgent care, ambulatory care and a healthplex. It will also identify the city’s most pressing health issues and consider how to bolster existing District hospitals, Williams said.
He has asked for a report by July, though he said he is willing to give the group more time.
The hospital legislation, which is still on the council’s plate, will be put on hold, the mayor said.
No Howard officials were named to the task force, though Williams said the city has made “overtures.” Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry said a top Howard administrator would participate.
Calls to Howard University asking for comment were not returned by press time.
Barry also said he and the mayor are “united” in their desire to develop a comprehensive health care policy for residents east of the river.
The council was mistaken when it voted in 2004 to move forward with negotiations to build a new hospital, said Council Member David Catania, chairman of the Health Committee.
Two years of reflection, he said, revealed the facility was “not the most practical, cost-effective way to improve health outcomes,” nor is it certain to be financially viable under Howard’s watch.
Task Force members
» Cornelius Baker, policy adviser to AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families
» Sharon Baskerville, executive director, D.C. Primary Care Association
» Colene Daniel, president, Greater Washington Region Doctors Community Healthcare Corp.
» Dr. M. Joy Drass, president, Georgetown University Hospital
» Vincent Keene, CEO, Unity Healthcare
» Robert Malson, president, D.C. Hospital Association
» Kwame Roberts, Regional Addiction Prevention Inc.
» Michael Rogers, executive vice president, MedStar Health
» Edward Shanbacker, executive vice president, Medical Society of D.C.
» Dr. Bailus Walker, chairman, Mayor’s Health Policy Council
» Dick Wolf, chairman, Capitol Hill Restoration Society
