Mayor Vince Gray pulled from D.C. Council consideration Tuesday a bill to expand the United Medical Center’s board of directors, a move he believed would help him privatize the D.C.-owned hospital.
Gray said he changed his mind when three board members indicated to him they would resign after initially refusing to do so. But it also helped that at-large Councilman David Catania agreed to expedite the approval process for the nominees that would replace the outgoing board members, the mayor said.
United Medical Center is the only D.C. hospital on the east side of the Anacostia River. It nearly went under last summer, but Mayor Adrian Fenty stepped in and had the city buy it. Bond rating agencies have since urged city leaders to get UMC off its books or risk losing the District’s nearly-perfect bond rating.
Gray said Tuesday that the hospital won’t likely be sold for another year.
