D.C. leaders say severe staffing shortages at Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health are tied to ongoing negotiations between the University and Universal Health Services over the debt-ridden Medical Faculty Associates.
Less than a year after the city opened Cedar Hill hospital — a $434 million facility in Ward 8 staffed by MFA physicians and operated by UHS, which also runs GW Hospital — D.C. and union leaders say the hospital has yet to fulfill its promise of delivering high-quality care to a historically underserved Black community. Residents of Wards 7 and 8 have reported persistent long wait times, diverted care and subpar patient experiences since the hospital began operating in April, which leaders link to ongoing uncertainty surrounding negotiations between GW, UHS and the MFA, the entities responsible for staffing the hospital.
Those concerns come amid reports that Cedar Hill is short nearly 500 employees, a staffing gap that city leaders say undermines the facility’s mission to deliver critical healthcare, including trauma care and obstetrics, to a predominantly Black community that has long faced poorer health outcomes and limited access to local care…