Washington, DC, now owns United Medical Center, the only hospital serving residents east of the Anacostia River, after bidding $20 million for the beleaguered facility at a five-minute foreclosure auction Friday that drew no other bidders. The move plunges the District back into the business of owning a financially struggling hospital nearly a decade after city-run D.C. General Hospital was forced to close because of similar troubles. No cash changed hands Friday, but the proceeding reduces the estimated $55 million debt that the previous owner, Specialty Hospitals of America, owes the city, Attorney General Peter Nickles said. The city took immediate possession of the 184-bed hospital, formerly Greater Southeast Community Hospital, met its $2.2 million payroll and started the process of transferring Medicaid and Medicare numbers and various licenses, officials said.
