D.C. Hospital Saved from Closure
posted 9:09 pm Wed November 07, 2007 - Washington
The District entered into a partnership with Specialty. The $79 million investment by D.C. Was needed so Specialty could purchase the facility from Envision Hospital Corp. It also allows money for medical equipment and building improvements. "Without this investment from the District of Columbia , healthcare east of the river would not continue to exist," said Fenty. "Our guiding principle in the negotiation of this deal was to ensure that the quality of a person's healthcare would not be determined by where they live in the District."
Part of the money, $20 million, will go towards the day-to-day operations and costs of the hospital. Specialty is required to repay the investment to D.C. over a 10-year period. $30 million will go toward equipment and renovations.
If Specialty ever sells the hospital, the District will get 50% of proceeds.Councilmember Marion Barry said, "even though I voted for this deal and even though... [it is] a very bad deal [made] better, I still have great reservations."
Some of those reservations include Specialty providing no money and the operator of the acute care program, Quroum, never having experience in such management.
Barry said he will work as hard as he can to make the hospital the best medical facility in the nation.
Not a member yet? Click Here to sign up.
Please leave your comments below:
Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or
advertising content or inappropriate links may be removed and may result in the loss of your posting privileges.
Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly.
Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.
© 2007 NewsChannel 8, a division of Allbritton Communications Company-
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The 'RUNNING MAN' icon is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc.
NewsChannel 8 to leave comments on news stories.