Frazee: Senate Bill 1 takes us backward

PHOTO COURTESY OF Jen Rini

(The Delaware Healthcare Association) and its member hospitals remain committed to the shared goals of affordability and expanded access to care, but (Senate Bill) 1 would reverse those efforts by cutting services and jobs, and shifting critical decision-making away from health care experts.”

Brian Frazee is the president and CEO of the Delaware Healthcare Association.

This feels like déjà vu. Delaware is once again sounding the alarm on a bill that would cut hospital jobs, reduce health care services and limit primary care access in our uniquely aging and growing state — similar to the rejected provisions of House Bill 350. The Delaware Healthcare Association, which represents hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, is strongly opposed to Senate Bill 1.

Alarmingly, the bill would:

• Risk thousands of health care jobs. Recruitment and retention of providers in Delaware should always be top priority.
• Remove experts from decision-making on hospital rates and value-based care.
• Cut at least $413 million in health care services for Delaware hospitals, their patients and communities.
• Reduce primary care access. Targeting hospital resources undermines the primary care networks Delawareans rely upon.

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 health care experts. Delaware is ranked No. 1 in the country for hospital quality because those experts, policymakers and community stakeholders have worked side by side to prioritize patients’ needs. We can’t 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 uncompensated care. We don’t need additional cuts at the state level.

Delaware needs more health care, 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.

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’t 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.

We need to pump the brakes on Senate Bill 1. DHA and our member hospitals are already leading the way on health care affordability:

• 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’s primary care law, so active discussions on sustainable value-based care models can continue. Ironically, the House of Representatives’ and Senate’s sponsors of SB 1 supported this very recommendation.
• The Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board is now law and provides unprecedented transparency and regulatory oversight, tying hospital finances directly to the state’s health care spending benchmark. While hospitals are proud to lead the way, they remain the only entity in the system — not insurers, pharmaceutical companies or any others — held accountable for cost drivers.
• 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.

SB 1 distracts us from doing the real work to address Delaware’s unique health care challenges. Let’s build on our progress to protect Delaware health care. DHA remains ready to work with the bill’s sponsors, the Insurance Department and all stakeholders to find a path forward that preserves Delaware’s national leadership in quality care and solves affordability without sacrificing access or our critical health care workforce. Together, we can make the First State first in health.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.