The troubled hospital in Southeast Washington that the city seized control of in 2010 turned a $2.5 million profit last year, but the D.C. Council panel charged with overseeing the complex remains sharply divided about its future.
At an oversight hearing, at-large Councilman David Catania, chairman of the council’s Health Committee and perhaps the United Medical Center’s greatest legislative champion, praised the UMC for its financial recovery after years of mismanagement.
“This is not a hospital near collapse,” Catania said. “This is a hospital that has overcome challenges and struggles that would have broken other institutions.”
Councilman Marion Barry, whose Ward 8 includes the hospital, said that while United Medical’s services have improved, its financial outlook remains shaky.
“Service is great,” Barry said. “Finances are not.”
An independent audit showed that the hospital turned a profit for the first time in a decade. Five years ago, the institution teetered near bankruptcy. The hospital, the only acute care center east of the Anacostia River, serves a largely impoverished population and much of its revenue comes from Medicare and Medicaid payments.
As the city weighs the hospital’s future — including the prospect of bringing in an outside turnaround specialist to manage the institution — the policy and personality divides between Catania and Barry could loom large.
On Feb. 14, the two men had an expletive-laced shouting match
about the hospital that drew headlines and prompted Council Chairman Kwame Brown to push a rule change banning cursing from public council meetings.
Nearly a month later, the two men remain at odds, and both accused the other at Friday’s hearing of distorting facts.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but people are not entitled to their own facts,” Catania chastised Barry after the former mayor questioned the hospital’s profit.
“I can’t stand by and let a statement be made that is not factually correct,” Barry retorted later.
In an interview with The Washington Examiner after the hearing, Catania said he was willing to hear out Barry’s ideas.
“If you have better facts or better ideas, then I’ll listen. If you have constructive solutions, I’ll listen,” Catania said. “But I need there to be an alternative if you don’t like the current course. It simply can’t be spitballs.”
Asked if he believed Barry was a stumbling block to the hospital’s progress, Catania replied, “I certainly have found him to be.”
Barry was unavailable for comment.
