Sussex, state leaders push for med school

As Sussex County struggles through an acute shortage of primary care physicians, a long-term proposal to build a medical school has been gathering support while efforts are being made to find short-term solutions. 

The Sussex Economic Development Action Committee commissioned a $100,000 study, completed in May, to determine the feasibility of establishing a medical school in Sussex County. Delaware is one of three states that does not have a medical school.

The study found it would be possible to create a branch campus of an existing medical school and recommended that work begin immediately. 

The following month, the Delaware General Assembly passed legislation calling for creation of a medical school.

“This House Concurrent Resolution urges the establishment of a medical school in the State of Delaware; calls for the formation of a formal Steering Group to guide the planning and implementation of a medical school; encourages the pursuit of partnerships with established medical schools and other medical education programs; and commits to supporting efforts to secure necessary funding needed to establish a medical school,” says a synopsis of the bill.

Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, said Feb. 24 that while there have been discussions about creating a medical school, there has been no movement yet to create a steering group to shepherd the project to approval. He said he would be willing to lead the group.

With a new administration led by Gov. Matt Meyer taking office last month, local leaders are waiting to see how much support there will be for a medical school.

Chris Weeks, a founding member of SEDAC, and co-chair of its healthcare and economic development committee, said Feb. 24 that his group is working on long- and short-term solutions to the primary care physician shortage.

“The real need is in primary care physicians,” he said. “Primary care is the pipeline through which specialists build capacity.”

No healthcare organization in the county has clinical capacity to support a medical school by itself, but pooling their resources could make it a reality,  the study found. SEDAC is working with representatives of Bayhealth, Beebe Healthcare and TidalHealth – the three groups that operate hospitals in Sussex County – and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on the medical school concept, Weeks said.

There have also been ongoing discussions with local, state and federal officials to promote the project, he said.

There is no recommended site yet within the county for a medical school, but the project is estimated to cost $85 million to get off the ground, including $50 million to build and equip, Weeks said.

While local leaders lobby for a medical school that would be years in the making, short-term solutions to the primary care physicians shortage are desperately needed, government and healthcare leaders say.  

Huxtable said Feb. 24 that he plans to introduce legislation intended to increase reimbursement rates for physicians.

William Albanese, CEO of healthcare provider Atracare, has cited reimbursement rates in Delaware, which are 30% to 40% lower than in surrounding states, as the primary reason the state recently ranked last in the country in filling the need for primary care physicians. Some Sussex County doctors have switched to concierge care, in which patients pay a membership fee, Albanese said.

Dr. Paul R. Sierzenski, senior vice president and chief physician executive for Beebe Healthcare, said Beebe established its own residency program two years ago to train physicians. Beebe is nearing completion of a facility in Long Neck that will accommodate its growing family residency program, which will be expanded to include other disciplines. It is scheduled to open this summer.

Sierzenski and Weeks said there is data to show that doctors are more likely to stay in an area where they do their residencies.

Huxtable suggested the state create a tuition reimbursement program.

“While the physician shortage should be addressed immediately through expansion of local residency programs, as that is the quickest, most economical way to create locally practicing physicians, SEDAC believes there is both opportunity and leverage in Sussex County to create an economic development engine to catalyze prosperity county-wide and beyond,” Weeks said.

“A medical school becomes a magnet, attracting and sustaining additional healthcare-related or healthcare-adjacent businesses and educators, thereby broadening a spectrum of employment opportunities,” he added. “The economic vigor of the healthcare economy then leads to a diverse economy of retail, hospitality, personal services, construction, etc.”