Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware will spend $78 million in federal funds to open its first medical school in the coming years. The state fielded bids from multiple universities, before ultimately settling on Thomas Jefferson University earlier this summer. Now, the university must execute on its agreement with the state to stand up a medical school within the next five years.
Contracts and internal reviews obtained by Spotlight Delaware reveal new details about how the state will stand up its first-ever medical school, as well how leaders decided to partner with Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University among a field of other contenders.
When the state formally announced the endeavor last month, no documents about its agreement with Jefferson had been made publicly available.
But a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Spotlight Delaware has revealed supplemental salaries for executive leadership at Jefferson, renovation plans for the University of Delaware’s campus, as well as a commitment to expand medical residency opportunities in the state.
The startup of Delaware’s first medical school will be funded with hundreds of millions of dollars awarded to all 50 states to bolster rural healthcare. Delaware intends to spend $78 million over the next five years to launch the school. After that point, though, it would be on Jefferson to keep it open.
The grant, called the Rural Health Transformation Program, was created last summer to court Republican senators hesitant to support more than $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which could disproportionately impact rural communities and their healthcare facilities.
In February, Meyer’s office released an initial batch of requests for potential vendors to carry out programs that will be funded by the federal grant.
It came weeks after the state received its first grant award from the federal government totaling more than $157 million. The full RHTP award amount for the state remains unclear, but Delaware will receive at least $500 million from the multi-year program.
What the contract says
The contract contains a budget for the first year of the five-year program, spanning from July 1 to Oct. 30, 2026.
In that first-year budget, $170,000 is set aside for “TJU Leadership,” which includes supporting the salaries for Jefferson’s president, general counsel, vice president of marketing, as well as the dean of its College of Health Professions.
Another $130,000 is set aside for “Other system leadership,” including some of the university’s executive officers.
Additionally, the budget sets aside $550,000 to support the salaries for 12 members of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College leadership team.
Asked if the budget lines for executive leadership within the university would continue in further years, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) said “budget categories for future years will be finalized as annual work plans and budgets are developed.”
A spokesperson for Jefferson said in an email that the first two years of the program would be focused on securing accreditation for the medical branch campus, purchasing equipment, as well as hiring staff.
Asked about the budget lines for executive leadership in future years, the spokesperson said “costs and budgets will vary by year.” They also said leaders would play a “central role” in launching the campus, and that the Delaware campus would be “continuously supported” by the college’s Philadelphia staff.
The spokesperson also said launching a new medical school “typically takes eight years,” and that Jefferson is opening its branch campus in just two.
As for selecting a dean for the Delaware medical school, the contract says Jefferson must consult Gov. Matt Meyer’s office before it makes a decision.
The contract also names a building on the University of Delaware’s campus, Willard Hall, where students would do their preclinical training. According to the first year budget, the state will spend $12 million to renovate the building, located on Main Street in Newark across from the Trabant University Center.
When asked about the renovation’s impact on classroom space for non-medical school students, University President Laura Carlson said Willard Hall would serve as the primary location for the medical school.
“We will maintain needed instructional space for existing courses and students, while carefully sequencing any moves to ensure all program needs are met,” Carlson said in an emailed statement.
It is unclear if the university will continue to use the space for non-medical school classes.
The contract said Jefferson would be responsible for placing its students into hospitals for their clinical rotations, where students would do hands-on medical training, following their education at UD. That agreement also says the university and hospitals should work to expand medical residency opportunities in the state.
Hospitals like Bayhealth in Dover, Beebe Healthcare in Lewes, and Nemours Children’s Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital in Wilmington were included in the initial group of hospitals set to host students.
Some questions still remain about whether Delaware’s largest hospital system, ChristianaCare, would host students for clinical training after its failed attempt to run the medical school with the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM).
A spokesperson for ChristianaCare said in a statement the hospital is “not currently involved” in discussions with the consortium of hospitals and higher education institutions running the medical school.
“We remain open to conversations about how we can continue to support the state’s vision for physician workforce development in Delaware,” the ChristianaCare spokesperson said.
TidalHealth, which operates Seaford’s Nanticoke Hospital, was not initially announced in the lineup of hospitals participating in the medical school.
And in a statement to Spotlight Delaware, the hospital said it too had not “been in contact with the project’s leaders,” but that it looks forward to learning more about its potential role.
“TidalHealth is projected to become Delmarva’s largest trainer of physicians, and we remain committed to rural graduate medical education as a way to recruit and retain practitioners in the communities we serve,” a TidalHealth spokesperson said.
The contract also carves out protections for an already existing partnership meant to place Delawareans into out-of-state medical school programs.
The Delaware Institute of Medical Education and Research, better known as DIMER, places Delaware students into nearby medical schools like Jefferson and PCOM. Jefferson reserves 20 seats annually for Delawareans and PCOM reserves 10.
But after PCOM lost its bid to run Delaware’s medical school, the future of DIMER came into question. The college, however, said it would continue to host Delaware students in the program.
Grading the bids
Spotlight Delaware also obtained a copy of the state’s bid reviews for all the applicants to run the state’s first medical school. In that review, a panel of six judges scored the applications on financial sustainability, educational history and their commitment to the bid and its goals.
That panel included a mix of state officials in the governor’s office and at DHSS. The medical director of the Delaware Health Empowerment Coalition also sat on the scoring committee.
Additionally, the panel included the leader of the state’s powerful hospital lobby, the Delaware Healthcare Association.
Delaware received four bids to run the medical school, although only three were thoroughly considered. One of the bidders, the global consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, was “unanimously” disqualified from the bid because it did not meet necessary requirements.
Another bidder, Ponce Health Sciences University, is a private Puerto Rican medical school. The panel said Ponce had demonstrated success at its other branch campus in Missouri, but that it wasn’t sure that could be transferred to Delaware.
The panel broadly agreed both PCOM and Jefferson, the two frontrunners to operate Delaware’s medical school, had strong proposals. But some of the judges wrote that PCOM fell short in demonstrating how its plan for operations would benefit rural Delaware.
“Bidder is deeply entwined with [ChristianaCare]. While this partnership creates a strong connection to Delaware, it largely serves NCC not the rural two counties defined in this RFP,” Dava Newnam, a deputy director at DHSS, wrote of PCOM’s bid.
The bid review also said PCOM considered hosting the medical school on Delaware State University’s campus in Dover.
For Jefferson, the panel lauded the university’s proposal and its already longstanding presence in Delaware. Kevin Myers, a panelist from the governor’s office, requested “additional detail” about the university’s commitment to rural primary care, but he otherwise supported its proposal.
Myers questioned the university’s proposed budget and its intended use of the funds, but he said Jefferson had given “solid evidence” of sustainability following the five-year federal award.
The bid review also said that among all of the bidders, Jefferson had the “strongest endorsement” from the state’s rural healthcare systems.
“These partnerships will be absolutely essential in the success of the medical school,” Myers wrote.
