D.C. Mayor Appoints Oversight Commission for New Indigent Care System

Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams (D) on June 7 appointed a 38-member "advisory commission" to oversee the city's new privatized health system for low-income and uninsured residents, the Washington Post reports (Goldstein, Washington Post, 6/8). In April, the federally appointed D.C. financial control board voted to transfer management of the city's health care system for the uninsured to Doctors Community Healthcare Corp., a private company that will phase out inpatient and trauma services at D.C. General Hospital, the city's safety-net facility (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/1). Williams said that the Health Services Reform Commission -- which the Post reports includes both "supporters and opponents" of the privatization plan -- will "collect crucial data about who uses the new system and check on any allegations of inappropriate treatment." Bailus Walker, a public heath professor at Howard University and chair of the commission, said that it would have "total independence," adding, "If it's looking bad, we'll say so. ... This will not be a passive group process." Under the new system, several private contractors, led by Greater Southeast Community Hospital, will administer care for the city's "thousands" of uninsured residents. D.C. General is scheduled to stop admitting inpatients by the end of next week. Yesterday, 1,400 employees at the hospital learned that their last day of work would be July 14 -- the biggest layoff in district government history (Washington Post, 6/8).