The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services is contracting national public health consultants Health Management Associates to try to rein in the high cost of healthcare in the First State.
The contract for Health Management Associates is $1.298 million.
The group is expected to provide project management support, and help with two federally funded initiatives: the first is a plan to integrate behavioral health and substance use disorder services with primary care settings, and the other is a community resource sharing plan called the Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative.
“They’re a group of consultants, but they also have national expertise and have really planned to build on the foundation that’s been started by the Delaware center for health innovation, and they’re really going to collaborate across public and private organizations,” said DHSS Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker.
Delaware has the third highest per-capita spending for healthcare in the country, and ranks 31st in overall health.
“I think it’s a multi-factorial reason that we are 31st, but it definitely means we have a lot more to do to make sure that every Delawarean is healthy,”said Walker.
In addition to the Health Management Associates contract, the Department of Health is paying the Mercer group 889 thousand dollars as legal consultants in this public-private partnership to try to bring down healthcare costs.