WASHINGTON — Patient services cut and employees showed the door at Washington, D.C.'s only hospital serving 177,000 people who live East of the Anacostia River. Employees at United Medical Center (UMC) say the siphoning-off of care is leaving patients with nowhere to turn.
Cedar Hill Medical Center on the campus of St. Elizabeth is slated to replace the troubled UMC. It is slated to open in early 2025. District leaders assured residents that there will be a seamless transition for patients of UMC, but it now appears there may be a gap in care that could last up to months.
It started with a phone call from one woman. In less than 24 hours, Tracey Williams gathered a dozen current and former UMC employees to talk about their concerns of alleged mismanagement, retaliation, and cuts to patient care.
“We care about patients here in Ward 7 and Ward 8,” said Williams. “They are like coming in and when I tell them their service is getting cut and they ask me, ‘where am I supposed to go?'”
Employees showed WUSA9 an Aug. 14 memo that stated in anticipation of the hospital's closure next March, 10 patient services including surgery, cardiology rehab, and mammography were being suspended at the end of August. But these employees said the services were already shut down Aug. 20, with as little as 10 days’ notice to patients.
“People come in and they are having a stroke, but we don't neurology, so we have to wait to get them transferred somewhere else. Time is life!” said Roberta LeNoir, a UMC nurse for 30 years and president of the D.C. Nurses Association.
The association representing UMC’s 94 nurses and the 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) representing about 300 service and maintenance technicians are concerned that members are being laid off without proper notice and without guarantee of severances in violation of their collective bargaining agreements.
“I'm here to enforce the contract. We have a contract and regardless of what the hospital does, they must honor it,” said union organizer Daniel Mendoza.
A spokesperson with 1199 SEIU told WUSA9 that 13 members have received reduction in force notices (RIFs) in violation of their contract. They are currently in arbitration over several cases.
“We want to make sure the money the city has set aside for our severance is put in a safe place and we get it because we have worked hard for it!” said 49-year employee Tony Powell, who started the union more than 20 years ago.
“We have a company policy that says any full-time employee WILL receive a severance,” said Angela Titus. “And on Monday of this week, they went in and changed it and said you MAY receive.”
WUSA9 contacted UMC. A spokesperson said emergency and inpatient services will remain open until Cedar Hill is online. UMC sent WUSA9 a letter dated back in May where they notified employees of general service cut, as they outlined the steps towards closure and opening of Cedar Hill. However, the May letter does not indicate which services will be suspended. UMC also stated patients were notified 30 days prior to the closure.
Councilmember Christina Henderson, Chair of the Healthcare Committee, said the hospital is required by the Health Planning and Development Agency — a division of D.C. Health — to give a 90 day notice.
The troubled hospital has been plagued by financial mismanagement and poor care in the past. That is why District leaders promised residents a new beginning with a brand-new hospital. But that promise is yet to be fulfilled.
In the meantime, communities that face disproportionate health disparities are left between a construction site and a hospital that is winding down operations, that the employee said is too soon.
“This used to be a good hospital,” said Edward Smith, executive director of the D.C. Nurses Association. “Management is running it to the ground, the Mayor is running it to the ground, the D.C. council is running it to the ground!”
WUSA9 reached out to the Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services and his office sent this statement:
The new hospital, Cedar Hill, remains on track to open to patients in early 2025. Cedar Hill is a new hospital, operated by Universal Health Services/GW and is totally separate from UMC. The Deputy Mayor is in coordination with UMC leadership to ensure that there will be a safe and coordinated transfer of any patients requiring medical care when Cedar Hill opens.