Washington, DC

(Washington, DC) - Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser applauded the Board of Directors of the United Medical Center (UMC) for voting to approve a site selection study in support of the District’s plans to create a new hospital east of the Anacostia River.

“This vote by the UMC Board is a positive indication that its members share my vision for a new, more efficient health care delivery system that will further our efforts in improving the health outcomes throughout the District,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser.

The UMC board will reconvene next week to review Letters of Interest (LOI) from firms with experience in conducting site selection studies and will make a decision by no later than June 30, 2016.  Work on the site studies for a new hospital should begin by August 2016.

The current hospital, constructed at a cost of $11 million in 1966, occupies roughly 460,000 square feet of space on 16.8 acres of land.  In the new and shifting paradigm for the delivery of health care services, UMC — in its current structure — is fast approaching obsolescence.

The execution of a site selection study is a necessary first step in the planning and design phase of a new hospital.  The Board’s vote today supports Mayor Bowser’s commitment to ensuring that the residents of Wards 7 and 8 will have access to a full range of quality acute care hospital services.