GW Hospital is in talks to take control of a city-owned hospital in Southeast D.C., the Washington Business Journal reported Thursday.

The city plans to turn over management – and potentially ownership – of the “chronically cash-starved” United Medical Center by next fall.

That private partner could be the GW Hospital, Steve Badger, CEO of GW Medical Faculty Associates, told the Journal. Badger said he has been encouraging GW Hospital officials to buy in, but said discussions have been “going slowly.”

“If that hospital could get rebranded with physicians in the emergency department, anesthetics, critical care, obstetrics being available 24 hours a day,” Badger told the Journal, “There’s a lot of good that could come from it.”

A private consultant hired by Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration drafted a $155 million, five-year proposal to overhaul the United Medical Center, which has been clouded in financial and management troubles.

The University is a 20 percent owner of GW Hospital, while Universal Health Services owns 80 percent.