The King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services is planning to take control of the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, the physician practice that staffs George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, according to a March 12 report from Hoodline.
The health system plans to form a nonprofit physician group that would directly employ many MFA physicians while maintaining clinical coverage at the hospitals, the publication reported.
Universal Health Services already operates George Washington University Hospital and manages Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center. The proposal would shift governance of the Medical Faculty Associates and change how physicians are employed across the enterprise.
The plan stems from ongoing discussions between Universal Health Services and George Washington University to end the university’s financial subsidies for the medical enterprise and stabilize operations across both hospitals.
Universal Health Services disclosed in its 2025 Form 10-K that it and George Washington University recently agreed to a framework to change their relationship with MFA. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, though some MFA physicians may choose not to join the new UHS subsidiary that would employ many of the clinicians.
The GW Hatchet reported in November 2025 that the MFA posted “large cumulative losses,” incentivizing the university to offload the group from its enterprise. The Hatchet reported that UHS’ proposal would have its physician-practice affiliate directly hire a “significant number” of MFA clinicians, and that those financial pressures were central to the negotiations that produced the framework now moving toward implementation.
