Health care providers from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Medical Faculty Associates have agreed to provide clinical care at the GW Hospital’s new location set to open in Southeast in 2024.
In an email sent to the GW community last week, University President Thomas LeBlanc said faculty physicians and Advanced Practice Providers of SMHS and the MFA signed an agreement with the District and Universal Health Services – GW Hospital’s majority owner that will operate the Southeast facility – to serve as the new hospital’s clinical care provider group. The email states the agreement follows two years of negotiations to formalize the plans to staff the hospital that will serve wards 7 and 8.
“This partnership builds upon a nearly 200-year foundation of GW fostering the health of our community, and we are thrilled to be part of this important initiative,” LeBlanc said in the email.
LeBlanc said medical services will span across maternal and child health, behavioral health, primary care, neurology, urology, orthopedics, emergency medicine, critical care, anesthesia, radiology and advanced surgical services.
“Through our clinical and academic programming, our physicians, APPs and multi-specialized health care teams will bring the most advanced assessment and treatment options to patients in an environment committed to patient-centered care,” he said in the email.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a press release Thursday that the partnership is a “monumental” step to combat health disparities in D.C.
“With this agreement, we are making good on our commitment to deliver a high-quality system of care to the St. Elizabeths East campus and the surrounding communities,” Bowser said in the release. “We know that right now too many residents travel across town to access their health care. With the talented medical professionals from GW staffing the new hospital, thousands of Washingtonians will be able to get the right care at the right time in a world-class hospital close to home.”
Bowser first announced the GW Hospital’s expansion in 2018 with plans to open the new location in 2023, but hospital officials halted its plans that December following debate among city lawmakers, the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission and Howard University. Bowser later announced the updated agreement last April, and the D.C. Council voted in July to advance the hospital’s construction.
