Terry Murphy is the president and CEO of Bayhealth.
Kent and Sussex counties are growing, and with that growth comes an opportunity to build a stronger, more accessible healthcare system for our communities. Across Delaware, new investments are expanding options for care closer to home, and Bayhealth is committed to being part of that progress. Our goal is straightforward: to make high-quality care easier to reach, easier to navigate and more affordable for our neighbors.
As Bayhealth’s president and CEO, I recognize our responsibility to listen to our neighbors. Bayhealth welcomes competition because it challenges us to improve and gives patients more choices. We support bringing more primary care, specialty care and behavioral health services into our communities, regardless of whose name is on the building.
Our concern with ChristianaCare’s proposed campuses in Camden and Georgetown is the microhospital component: an emergency department and eight inpatient beds at each location. We do not believe that is the best answer to our communities’ broader access needs. The outpatient services proposed alongside those hospitals merit consideration on their own. Expanding outpatient care does not require accepting that new small hospitals are the right investment.
Where patients receive care can make a substantial difference in cost. UnitedHealthcare reports that an emergency room visit costs about 10 times as much as an urgent care visit. Expanding access to urgent care and primary care can help patients receive appropriate treatment without unnecessary emergency department charges.
At Bayhealth Total Care in Milton, our hybrid model combines emergency and urgent care services under one roof, with emergency-trained clinicians seeing every patient. About two-thirds of patients are billed at the lower urgent care rate, saving the community $15 million in healthcare costs. Patients do not have to decide whether illnesses or injuries require urgent or emergency care; they receive the appropriate levels of treatment at one site. By contrast, ChristianaCare’s approach will increase costs for individuals, employers and payers.
Bayhealth is expanding this approach through “The Next Wave,” our multiyear growth strategy. In Milton, we are adding 10 additional emergency exam rooms and expanded imaging and diagnostics. In Smyrna, we are planning a new Total Care location with urgent and observation care, advanced diagnostics and multispecialty services, alongside an ambulatory surgery center. At our Sussex Campus in Milford, an 80,000-square-foot medical office building will bring primary and specialty care together with imaging, lab and outpatient services. At our Kent Campus in Dover, we are expanding capacity with a new tower that will add 64 inpatient beds. Construction on an expanded emergency department, including a dedicated behavioral health suite, is scheduled to begin in 2027.
Affordability is also part of access. In fiscal 2025, Bayhealth provided $198 million in community benefit, including $15.4 million in charity care, reflecting our commitment to neighbors facing financial hardships.
We urge the Delaware Health Resources Board to weigh access, quality and cost together.
Kent and Sussex residents deserve investments that make care easier to reach, navigate and afford. We believe a connected network of Total Care locations, outpatient services and strong local hospitals offers a better path forward.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
