Residents in the Northwest District of Columbia are lucky. We enjoy high-priced real estate, booming commercial areas and plenty of grocery stores— and we also have hospitals. Right on campus we have the Georgetown University Hospital, and nearby are Sibley Hospital, the George Washington University Hospital and Howard University Hospital. Contrast our situation with that of southern residents. If you are sick and live east of the Anacostia, there’s nowhere nearby to go. For the past few years Mayor Anthony Williams and the D.C. Council have been kicking around an idea to open a new medical facility on the site of the now closed D.C. General Hospital, but the plan has hit some snags.
Back in 2004, the D.C. Council supported a plan to build a brand-new, $400 million hospital along the Anacostia River near RFK Stadium. The city and Howard University would split the financing of the hospital, dubbed the National Capital Medical Center. Now, though, Mayor Williams is rethinking the idea of the huge health megaplex. He is instead looking to the suburbs for inspiration.
In nearby Springfield, Va. lies the Inova Healthplex, a stand-alone emergency medical facility. The Healthplex has all of the bells and whistles of a major hospital’s ER, but without the major hospital. Mayor Williams thinks this model would better serve the needs of Southeast. The big question is if this model of health care that is successful in the suburbs can be adapted for the city.
Freestanding emergency facilities such as the Healthplex offer plenty of advantages. Generally they have shorter waiting times, and the price tag would be far less than the $400 million needed for the proposed National Capital Medical Center. However, these facilities work as clinics, meaning a patient requiring advanced care must seek help treatment at another hospital. Cost will be the big issue in determining if the city builds the full hospital or opts for the smaller facility.
Williams has taken a positive step in creating a new task force, whose aim is to determine if the city’s health needs could be met through the Healthplex model. No decision has been made yet regarding the city’s $212 million stake in the National Capital Medical Center.
As the city prepares for elections this November, the hospital issue may be tabled as candidates focus on other issues. With Williams’s support for the new medical center wavering, any forward progress on the project could be stalled until next year. It is unlikely that a newly minted taskforce will make any recommendation before the election.
