This feels like deja vu. Delaware is once again sounding the alarm on a bill that would cut hospital jobs, reduce healthcare services and limit primary care access in our uniquely aging and growing state \u2013 similar to the rejected provisions of House Bill 350. The Delaware Healthcare Association, which represents hospitals, health systems and other healthcare organizations, is strongly opposed to Senate Bill 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alarmingly, the bill would:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2022 Risk thousands of healthcare jobs. Recruitment and retention of providers in Delaware should always be top priority<\/p>\n
\u2022 Remove experts from decision-making on hospital rates and value-based care<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cut $413 million in healthcare services for Delaware hospitals, their patients and communities\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2022 Reduce primary care access. Targeting hospital resources undermines the primary care networks Delawareans rely upon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DHA and its member hospitals remain committed to the shared goals of affordability and expanded access to care, but SB 1 would reverse those efforts by cutting services and jobs, and shifting critical decision-making away from healthcare experts. Delaware is\u00a0ranked No. 1 in the country for hospital quality because those experts, policymakers and community stakeholders have worked side by side to prioritize patients\u2019 needs. We can\u2019t go backward. Hospitals are already bracing for fallout from federal policies that will lead to more uninsured patients, less preventive care, more emergency room visits and more\u00a0uncompensated care. We don\u2019t need additional cuts at the state level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Delaware needs more healthcare, not less. We have the fifth-oldest and sixth-fastest-growing population in the nation. A robust medical workforce is the only way to keep pace. Our 30,000 hospital workers are the backbone of this system, and hospitals are the largest private-sector employer in the state. Instead of undermining them, we must invest in retaining these professionals and expanding their ranks to meet rising demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Delaware hospitals are more than emergency departments. They are community hubs for behavioral health, mobile health units and primary care, employing more than 500 primary care providers. They recruited 200 more primary care doctors through graduate medical education programs over the last five years, but current reimbursement doesn\u2019t keep pace with the salaries and the other support hospitals provide. The artificial price caps in SB 1 would limit their ability to recruit and retain talent to our great state.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We need to pump the brakes on SB 1. DHA and our member hospitals are already leading the way on healthcare affordability:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2022 As members of the collaborative stakeholder process on the Primary Care Reform Collaborative, we joined state leaders in recommending a two-year extension of the state\u2019s primary care law so active discussions on sustainable, value-based care\u00a0models can continue. Ironically, the House and Senate sponsors of SB 1 supported this very recommendation<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board is now law and provides unprecedented transparency and regulatory oversight, tying hospital finances directly to the state\u2019s healthcare spending benchmark. While hospitals are proud to lead the way, they remain the only entity in the system \u2013 not insurers, pharmaceutical companies or any others \u2013 held accountable for cost drivers<\/p>\n
\u2022 DHA is formalizing a process with the state of Delaware to explore value-based care initiatives to improve health outcomes and reduce the cost burden on states without sacrificing quality or access.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
SB 1 distracts us from doing the real work to address Delaware\u2019s unique healthcare challenges. Let\u2019s build on our progress to protect Delaware healthcare. DHA remains\u00a0ready to work with the bill\u2019s sponsors, the Insurance Department and all stakeholders to\u00a0find a path forward that preserves Delaware\u2019s national leadership in quality care and\u00a0solves affordability without sacrificing access or our critical healthcare workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Together, we can make the First State first in health.<\/p>\n
Brian Frazee is the president and CEO of the Delaware Healthcare Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This feels like deja vu. Delaware is once again sounding the alarm on a bill that would cut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253,237921,212773],"class_list":["post-529038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-sb-1-takes-delaware-backward","tag-viewpoints"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}