Ad Campaign ‘Reminds’ Washington, D.C., Residents of Available Services at Safety-Net Hospital

The company that administers the D.C. Healthcare Alliance, the District of Columbia's newly privatized indigent care system, on March 13 launched an advertising campaign to "remind" District residents that D.C. General Hospital's emergency room and outpatient clinics remain open, the Washington Post reports. In June 2001, D.C. General, Washington's safety net hospital for low-income and uninsured residents, closed its inpatient wards (Washington Post, 3/14). In April 2001, the District's financial control board approved a controversial plan that transferred management of the city's indigent health system from the bankrupt Public Benefit Corp. to a private company. The board also approved a plan to phase out inpatient and trauma services at D.C. General Hospital, the city's safety-net hospital. Under the new indigent care system, a private company manages a network of more than 20 clinics that contract with private physicians, and Greater Southeast Community Hospital treats patients requiring hospitalization or trauma care. As of December 2001, 18,475 District residents were enrolled in the new system, which covers uninsured individuals with annual household incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 12/18/01). The $750,000 marketing campaign focuses on three District hospitals "collectively known" as CommunityCare, which now serves as the District's "primary provider of city-funded charity care" for residents enrolled in the alliance. The campaign, which includes a 30-second television ad, "aims to attract" both insured and uninsured patients to the three CommunityCare facilities: Greater Southeast, D.C. General and Hadley Memorial hospital and nursing home (Washington Post, 3/14).