Why Should Delaware Care?
After receiving nearly $160 million as part of a national program to expand rural health care access, Delaware has taken the first step toward implementing some of the more than a dozen expansion initiatives outlined by Gov. Matt Meyer last fall. The state has sent out a call for partners to help build its first medical school, along with three other rural health care related programs.
Delaware will soon begin spending the millions of dollars it received from the federal government late last year to bolster rural health care infrastructure across the state.
Last week, Gov. Matt Meyer’s office released an initial batch of requests for potential vendors to carry out programs that will be funded by a federal payout aimed at improving rural health across the country. Some of those bids include funding a new medical school, creating a “Food is Medicine” program, as well as operating rural health hubs in Sussex and Kent counties.
It comes weeks after the state received its first award from the federal government totaling more than $157 million. The full award amount for the state remains unclear, but the state will receive at least $500 million from the multi-year federal program.
The initial award represents the first batch of funding Delaware hopes to receive over the next five years, which could increase or decrease on a yearly basis depending on how much money is spent.
Delaware applied for that potential funding through the “Rural Health Transformation Program,” a provision of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that earmarks $50 billion for states to improve their rural health care infrastructure.
The state will fund 15 programs with the federal money, but only released four bid requests over the weekend. According to a Monday press release, the governor’s office intends to release more requests on a rolling basis.
Additionally, Meyer said in the release that the new programs will be a “critical step” in lowering the cost of health care in the state and addressing coverage gaps across the state.
“A person’s zip code should never dictate the quality of care they receive – or if health care services are even available,” Meyer said in the release.
What bids are available?
One of those four requests is for Delaware’s first medical school. Meyer, who campaigned on bringing a medical school to the state, said at a press conference in November that people in Kent and Sussex counties have struggled to find access to health care.
In its request for a partner institution to run the school, the state hopes by fall 2028 it would have at least 40 students enrolled and attending classes at the proposed campus. It does not specify a location or county where the state would like to operate its campus.
However, the medical school would be expected to stand up a program that takes advantage of programs that already exist in the state.
“The program will leverage Delaware’s existing health care infrastructure and clinical training sites in communities across the State of Delaware to prepare physicians for rural practice,” the bid said.
It follows a non-binding agreement between Delaware and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where Jefferson hopes to build a branch campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College somewhere in the state.
That agreement, which was signed prior to an announcement by the state that it was pursuing the federal funds, said Delaware will “provide all necessary and appropriate financial resources for the development, implementation, and sustainability of the branch campus.”
The agreement also says the state and university would work toward the “enhancement” of Jefferson’s current branch campus in Delaware, in which third- and fourth-year residents work at ChristianaCare.
Delaware’s application for federal dollars through the Rural Health Transformation Program estimated the state would spend more than $100.4 million through 2031 to fund the medical school.
According to the state website dedicated to the program, Delaware intends to spend $42.5 million of its first-year-award on the medical school.
Separately, the state solicited vendors to support its “Food is Medicine” program, which aims to improve health outcomes by investing in better nutrition. According to the bidding document, the state is looking for vendors to implement the program in rural Kent and Sussex counties.
This would include hiring community health workers and a dietician to provide food counseling, as well as education in the counties. The state also wants the potential vendor to certify more than a dozen “Culinary Medicine Teachers” to train rural doctors.
The vendor also would be expected to have reduced diet-related emergency room visits and food insecurity in the state after its five-year contract expires.
Additional bids included establishing rural health community hubs aimed at offering preventive, primary, behavioral health and specialty care to residents in Kent and Sussex Counties. The state is also looking to use the funding to deploy at least four new mobile health units across the two lower counties.
Delaware Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Christen Linke Young said in the Monday press release that these programs will support those in rural communities long into the future.
“These initiatives are designed to build lasting capacity, not short-term fixes,” Young said.
The bid for medical school partner institutions is due March 27, and the state hopes to have a dean selected for the school no later than New Year’s Eve.