Delaware’s first year of funding for the Rural Health Transformation Program– totaling more than $157 million– is fully allocated.
One of its primary objectives is to attract more healthcare workers to Kent and Sussex County– which the state has deemed as heavily underserved.
The Delaware Health Care Commission says one of its more recent allocations gives two $70 thousand educational awards to medical students who commit to practicing in rural Delaware– a program managed through Delaware’s official partnership with Thomas Jefferson University. Delaware plans to launch its medical school with Thomas Jefferson in 2028.
And another $1.24 million is budgeted to support housing and relocation for graduate level physicians in medical education programs at Bayhealth, Beebe Healthcare, ChristianaCare, Nemours and TidalHealth.
In both programs, recipients must commit to practicing in rural Delaware for five years after they graduate medical school – and up to three years of residency can count toward that.
Kristen Linke Young, Secretary of Delaware’s Department of Health and Social Services, said professional development workforce investments vary in their pay-off time. But these strategies catch young physicians at a key time, since many land where they receive their training. And they will offer some immediate benefits for Delaware.
“We are making investments now to bring current physicians, people who are just exiting medical school, or people who are in medical school now, to get those folks committed to practicing in Delaware,” she said.
Eligible applicants are third- and fourth-year medical students who complete at least one clinical rotation in Delaware, future students at Delaware’s new medical school, and medical residents and fellows who complete a clinical rotation in Delaware’s rural communities.
Linke Young said DHSS awards the money to the hospital systems and Thomas Jefferson. It’s her understanding the institutions largely already know who will receive this year’s funding for these two programs.
