The GW Hospital will receive more than $5 million in emergency funding from the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release Monday.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the funding as part of a $25 million relief package for 10 D.C.-area hospitals bracing for a surge in COVID-19 patients. The GW Hospital will collect the most funding, based on the number of beds able to provide care per hospital, the release states.
“Each hospital received an award based on this allocation and funding will be distributed to hospitals on May 1, 2020,” the release states.
Hospitals may use the funds for staff, equipment and temporary facility costs related to COVID-19 treatment beginning Friday, according to the release. The funding was included in the D.C. Council’s COVID-19 Response Supplemental Emergency Amendment Act of 2020, according to the release.
Howard University Hospital and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital will receive the second- and third-most funding, at about $4 million each, the release states.
The announcement comes nearly a week after Bowser said the city will convert the Walter E. Washington Convention Center into an alternate care facility to treat COVID-19 patients.
Bowser said the hospitals can activate 1,000 “surge beds” available for use and tap into a backup 250 city-owned ventilators if the hospitals are using their existing supply of 440, according to a Washington Post report Monday.
