The D.C. Council Tuesday agreed to use $79 million from the District’s tobacco settlement fund on the sale of Greater Southeast Community Hospital, gambling critical health care reserves in an effort to salvage the only acute-care hospital east of the Anacostia River.
Greater Southeast is in disrepair, driven there by its owner, Arizona-based Envision Healthcare Corp., said Council Member David Catania, chair of the health committee. Staff and vendors aren’t being paid, while the quality of its care has steadily declined, Catania said,
With the sale to Specialty Hospitals of Washington, “we can begin a new chapter in the history of this hospital,” he said
The deal was dependent on the council’s willingness to dip into the $253 million tobacco fund, which has been seen as a vital reserve to address health issues in the city.
Specialty is to receive a $30 million grant for equipment upgrades and $49 million in loans for working capital and to clear the hospital’s debts. The emergency measure passed unanimously.
Asking a firm to step in and take ownership of Greater Southeast “wouldn’t pass the laugh test” if the District wasn’t willing to help, said Council Chairman Vincent Gray.
Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry urged his colleagues to hold off on a vote until the mayor’s office finalizes its agreement with Specialty, which is expected to take another two weeks. Barry claimed the draft is filled with holes; it lacks, for example, any requirements for minority participation.
“Just because we have a gun at our head doesn’t mean we have to pull the trigger,” Barry said.
The Rand Corp., meanwhile, continues its $1.5 million study of health disparities District-wide. The final report is expected to recommend how the District should expend the tobacco settlement fund.
The legislation authorizing the analysis empowered the mayor to enter into a public-private partnership to save Greater Southeast.
