Adventist HealthCare takes Howard’s hospital, and the spoils of its savvy negotiation?

Adventist HealthCare has been operating HU’s hospital; it’s set to take over completely and cash in on those federal and District earmarks for an HBCU teaching facility (tip: Sara Gilore, WBJ)

Seventh-day Adventists play an outsized role in DC healthcare, particularly in the Maryland suburbs where they operate Shady Grove and White Oak medical centers with over 500 combined beds. Since February 2020, Adventist HealthCare has been managing Howard University Hospital, an institution with a checkered past, and apparently doing a good job.

We may remember that recently the DC government decided to build a new hospital east of the Anacostia in exchange for closing Providence in Northeast, and to help a competitor to the dominant MedStar organization stay in the market, DC deemed the GW hospital system the new facility’s operator; GW residents would split time between the two locations, everyone kept their level 1 trauma status, no drama.

But wait, said Howard University, what about us? A councilmember from ward 7 said she stood by ready and waiting to help her alma mater; she one of many.

A payoff came. We don’t yet have all the details or know how broad the benefit.

Now, Adventist Healthcare stands to inherit Howard University’s good-faith negotiation. Is this what everyone signed up for?