Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware ranks as the worst state in the nation for access to primary care. A new federally funded program, offering states upwards of $500 million, looks to revitalize health care in the country’s most rural areas. That money could allow Delaware to begin closing its health care gap.
Healthcare leaders said Wednesday that a proposed medical school in Delaware could strengthen the area’s health system but would not quickly resolve persistent issues around access to doctors, particularly in fast-growing and aging Sussex County.
Speaking at Spotlight Delaware’s Health Care Summit, the industry leaders said shortages in housing in the state have been an obstacle to increasing Delaware’s ranks of healthcare professionals.
To address the issue, Gov. Matt Meyer proposed using part of a $157 million federal grant awarded earlier this year to build the state’s first medical school. The governor has argued that a medical school would establish a pipeline of new doctors who could serve Delaware’s rural areas.
During a panel discussion about the challenges to launching a medical school, Delaware Health Care Commission Chair Dr. Neil Hockstein noted that the new federal grant cannot be used to fund new construction for housing. Still, he said the money can be used to repurpose existing spaces.
“There are campuses throughout the state where there are opportunities to expand housing,” he said.
Also during the discussion, Dr. Kathleen Matt, board member of the Delaware Institute of Medical Education and Research, said the state will need to be strategic about housing, so that medical students and residents “can live close to where they are going to be doing their training,” she said.
She also noted that individuals often train in residency programs and then stay to start their careers.
By having residency programs and more opportunities in Delaware, more early-career medical professionals would be likely to stay in the state, she said.
What led to this
Last year, Delaware officials said they hoped to receive $1 billion from the federal government to invest heavily into health infrastructure in Kent and Sussex counties, which would include building the state’s first medical school.
Shortly after, Spotlight Delaware reported that the state was in talks with Thomas Jefferson University, home to one of Philadelphia’s premier medical schools. Jefferson already has a sizable footprint in Delaware’s medical education landscape with clinical and educational relationships with ChristianaCare, Beebe Healthcare and Nemours Children’s Hospital.
By December, the Trump administration announced that it awarded Delaware $157 million as part of a national program aimed at bolstering rural health care across all 50 states.
The initial award represents the first batch of funding Delaware hopes to receive over the next five years.
In March, legislators expressed concerns with a new medical school. During a hearing, lawmakers and DHSS Secretary Christen Linke Young sparred over the impact a proposed four-year medical school would have on the state’s healthcare workforce.
One of those lawmakers, State Sen. Trey Paradee (D-Dover), who also chairs the state’s powerful Joint Finance Committee, expressed concerns about sustainably funding the school long term, when the state already funnels hundreds of millions of dollars to multiple public universities.
“Once these rural health dollars go away in a few years the question becomes, what is the state’s commitment?” Paradee said.
That reality has also sped up Delaware’s plans, with the opening of a program pegged for the fall of 2028, Hockstein said.
At the summit, Hockstein also revealed that planners never intended for Delaware’s universities to be a primary driver for the medical school. They sought applicants who are accredited schools that could more quickly open new programs in the state, and down the line they could partner with institutions like the University of Delaware and Delaware State University.
Three schools submitted bids, including Thomas Jefferson University, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) and Ponce Health Sciences University, which is based in Puerto Rico but has begun opening campuses in the continental U.S.
