New hospital opening in Southeast DC is first in 20 years

WASHINGTON — Residents of Southeast, D.C. will soon have access to a brand new hospital. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center will open on April 15, becoming the first new hospital in D.C. in 20 years. 

The new hospital, located at 1200 Pecan Street SE, is being built on the St. Elizabeths East campus, with access to the Congress Heights Metro Station. That’s welcome news for families in underserved Anacostia. The aging, city-owned public hospital in Anacostia, United Medical Center, has been scaling back services in recent years. Once the new hospital opens, United will be shutting down.

Bowser said the hospital is an integral part of improving health care access east of the Anacostia River. 

“Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center represents my promise kept to Ward 8 and to all D.C. residents,” Bowser said. “The CareFirst Arena, the housing, and opportunity – everything here on this campus represents a promise I made to deliver for Ward 8. The new hospital, and the system of care it is part of, are all part of one shared goal: improving health outcomes for DC residents.”

The hospital is a $434 million project with 136 beds, which can be expanded to 184 if needed. It will be a full-service hospital with maternal health services including a level II NICU, a trauma center and an ambulatory pavilion and helipad for emergency transports. 

Currently, pregnant people living in Wards 7 and 8 have had to travel across the river to deliver, after United Medical Center shuttered its maternity ward in 2017. 

Cedar Hill will be operated by Universal Health Services, which also said they would be making a $75 million investment in overall health care infrastructure in Wards 7 and 8. 

“Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health is part of an integrated delivery network of care that includes The George Washington University Hospital, Cedar Hill Urgent Care GW Health in Ward 8, and the Fletcher-Johnson Freestanding Emergency Department, scheduled to open in 2027 in Ward 7,” said Kimberly Russo, CEO of Universal Health Services. “This integration will ensure healthcare equity for residents of Wards 7 and 8, providing access to high-quality care in their own neighborhoods and communities.”  

The name of Cedar Hill Regional, which went under construction in February 2022, is a nod to abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the D.C. house he lived in until his death in 1895.