Universal Health Services is aiming to grant GW Hospital control of the development of a long-awaited new emergency department in Southeast D.C. as Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health’s operations continue to struggle.
A UHS spokesperson confirmed the company is proposing transferring responsibility of the project, which would establish a standalone emergency department on the Fletcher-Johnson campus in Ward 7, to District Hospital Partners, LP, which operates GW Hospital. The construction project, which has yet to break ground, has faced significant delays while under Cedar Hill’s purview as the hospital continues to work to fill vacancies and combat leadership turnover.
UHS proposed the change in a filing to the D.C. Department of Health’s State Health Planning and Development Agency on March 27. If the District approves the transfer, patients at the emergency care center who are in need of more serious medical care will likely be transferred to GW Hospital rather than to Cedar Hill, according to the filing.
A spokesperson for UHS said the proposed transfer of control is “administrative in nature” and said it does not change the scope of the services the new facility will offer once it opens.
District officials first announced in 2024 that UHS would establish a freestanding emergency department facility at the former Fletcher-Johnson campus, which is in the Ward 7 neighborhood of Marshall Heights and is about four miles northeast of the Cedar Hill facility. At the time, officials said the development of the new hospital was part of the District’s efforts to increase access to healthcare for D.C. residents who live east of the Anacostia River who have historically faced healthcare disparities.
Cedar Hill, which currently is set to operate the emergency care center, opened in April 2025, operating under an agreement between the District and UHS officials. The facility has since struggled with staffing shortages and high turnover in the hospital’s highest leadership roles, which has resulted in long wait times, unopened services and low quality of care for residents of Wards 7 and 8 — for whom the hospital was created to primarily serve.
The project is yet to break ground and has faced numerous delays as UHS and the District have been unable to come to a deal regarding a transfer of ownership for the physical property from D.C. to UHS. The District has only partially demolished the former Fletcher-Johnson campus and has not completed key site preparation work, such as the installation of crucial utilities and full clearance of the building footprint, needed to fully prepare the property for construction, according to UHS.
UHS projects they will complete construction by Dec. 23, 2028, and expects the facility to open in the first quarter of 2029. The timeline reflects delays from earlier projections of late 2027 or early 2028, as well as an increase in total project costs from $19.6 million to approximately $28.7 million. The revised total includes a $25.7 million investment from UHS and a $3 million contribution from the District, according to the filings.
The property is still owned by the District and is yet to be transferred to UHS, according to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue.
The planned scope of the facility remains unchanged under the proposed transfer and will include trauma care, pediatric services, obstetrics, gynecology treatment and behavioral health services. The 12,000-square-foot emergency department is designed to have 14 examination rooms and is expected to treat the majority of patients on site with approximately 2 percent of unstable patients expected to require transfer to a full-service hospital.
UHS has cited ongoing challenges to site readiness, construction complexity and rising costs as key factors in the delays, noting that unresolved preconstruction work at the site and the need to coordinate multiple phases of demolition, infrastructure installation and build out have increased project uncertainty and contributed to continued cost pressures. However, they still intend to move the project forward and complete development based on the updated timeline, according to the filing.
