Delaware hospitals get another high mark in the latest U.S. News & World Report “Best States” rankings, coming in second for hospital care quality.
This year’s number 2 ranking for Delaware comes after it earned the top spot in the hospital care quality metric in 2025.
Delaware Hospital Association President and CEO Brian Frazee said he's proud that Delaware consistently ranks toward the top.
"It's something that we want to continue building on," he said. "Making sure we have quality care is a daily task. Something that we want to continue evolving is to make sure that we're using the latest technology, training, and best practices to ensure that patients across Delaware are always receiving the best possible care."
The report looks at successful treatment of cancer surgeries, organ failure, and joint replacement– along with patient experiences to give its scores.
While Delaware's hospitals perform well on patient outcomes, one lawmaker points out other ranking systems don’t score Delaware as high overall.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hospital evaluations has awarded its highest mark of five stars to Delaware hospitals, like Christiana Care, in the past. But State Senator Ray Seigfried (D-Arden) said no Delaware hospitals received the top five-star mark from CMS this year. Seigfried is the co-sponsor of a measure that passed the general assembly this year that will implement hospital cost controls.
The CMS rating uses mortality, safety, readmission, and patient-experience to measure hospital performance. Christiana Care got four stars with CMS this year.
Of more than 3,200 hospitals to receive a rating, 12% got a five-star rating. Christiana Care is among approximately 30% of hospitals to get a four stars. Approximately 31% of hospitals got a three star rating.
Seigfried said lawmakers prioritize patient experience, population health, and overall costs in healthcare performance. And increases in per capita health care spending indicate a system offering quality, but not consistent access.
"There's another factor which is critical," Seigfried said. "And that's cost. So in Delaware, we have good quality and extremely high cost relative compared to other hospitals throughout the country."
Delaware missed its most recent healthcare spending benchmark, reporting that per capita health care spending in increased to $11.3 billion in calendar year 2024.
Hospitals recognize affordability issues, Frazee said. Providers in Delaware are working with the state to implement a hospital cost review board, enhanced charity care rules, and hospital cost price caps.
"And there's more work to do, especially in the insurance and pharmaceutical space," Frazee said. "Because we believe that it takes all sectors in the healthcare space, to truly address affordability."
Both Frazee and Seigfried both raised concerns about federal Medicaid cuts in 2027, predicting it will cause people losing insurance to rely on more expensive emergency care.
FactCheck.org says that since President Donald Trump's second term started, enrollment in Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplace declined by about 8 million people. And with the federal government's added work requirements and an approximately $1 trillion cut to Medicaid over the next 10 years, millions more are expected to lose coverage.
