As the state asks for bid proposals on funding it's allocated to start a four-year medical school, some lawmakers have questions about logistics of the undertaking.
Delaware received $157 million in federal grant money to expand rural health services this year, and anticipates receiving $500 million over the next five years.
Part of an initiative to expand rural healthcare, Governor Matt Meyer's office and the Department of Health and Social Services set sights on retaining and recruiting medical talent to Kent and Sussex counties with the measure.
During the DHSS budget proposal presentation, secretary Christen Linke Young told the Joint Finance Committee that Kent and Sussex County face demand issues unique to other rural areas because of the counties' population growth.
"The more we can do to keep keep training in the state, the easier it is for us to attract (medical) residents," she said. "And the easier it is to keep people there afterwards."
The logic being that young medical professionals often practice in the state where they completed their residency. And medical students often do their residencies in an area where they completed a rotation during their third or fourth years of school.
Part of the state's funding would go to covering educational costs for Delaware's first rounds of in-state cohorts, on the condition they work in Delaware afterwards.
State Rep. Krista Griffith (D-Fairfax) said enforcing a requirement that medical students stay and work in Delaware after their school is paid for will take logistics to enforce.
Young said this is a common strategy used by other states to fill workforce gaps. She added the scholarship money will be reserved for people study primary care.
"As a condition of receiving their scholarship, sign a contract with us, and we have the ability to recoup if they don't follow through on their obligations," Young said. "I don't want to overstate our ability to send marshals to people's house and recoup money. But in general, this is a contractual thing that's modeled off of things that other states do."
The call out for service sand contract bids says the state wants its first-year student cohort enrolled and attending classes by Fall 2028.
Joint Finance Committee chair State Sen. Trey Paradee (D-Dover) pointed out costs for running the school will extend past the state's five year federal grant allocations.
"The question becomes, what is the state's commitment to that financially going to be?" he said. "And I'd be very curious to know what those cost projections are going out 10 years."
After the medical school is established and has graduated several co-horts, the school would be established and require fewer supports, Young said. By then, the state would have new graduates practicing in Delaware.
She added not to think of the medical school as a single brick and mortar building, but a build out of systems already in place.
The state has a contract bid out now for a medical school to establish a branch campus in Delaware.
"When fully staffed– it's not going to be like a building that is the campus," she said. "It will be some classroom space. It will also be anatomy labs and cadaver labs. So there will be some capital resources in the state, but it will not be like one single building."
She added the state’s plans will look for concrete once it reviews applications. Deadline for bid responses is March 27.
