NCCo Chamber’s Innovations in Healthcare & Expo
In her keynote address Thursday at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce’s Innovations in Healthcare & Expo, DHSS Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker said Delaware’s health care spending and quality benchmarks will add transparency and accountability to Delaware’s health care system. In 2014, Delaware had the third-highest per-capita rate of health care spending in the country, behind only Alaska and Massachusetts. Working with Governor John Carney, the General Assembly and health care stakeholders across the state, the Governor signed Executive Order 25, which provides for a health care spending benchmark (3.8% in 2019) and eight quality benchmarks – targets for overall population health change -- in the areas of emergency department use, substance use disorder and cardiovascular disease.
Secretary Walker said the state also is pursuing a plan to reduce premiums on the health insurance marketplace to make the coverage more affordable for people who are not eligible for employer-based insurance, too young for Medicare, make too much for Medicaid, have aged off their parents’ insurance or are self-employed. She said the reinsurance plan would be “so relevant for the innovation economy.”
The more than 100 attendees were welcomed to the STAR Campus by UD’s College of Health Sciences Dean Kathleen Matt. She encouraged business people to “think about more things we can do together.” Dean Matt said the STAR Campus brings the community in, which leads to inspiration. Inspiration leads to innovation, which leads to impact. And that impact changes the health outcomes for the people of Delaware.
Following her keynote, Secretary Walker moderated a panel on health care innovation that included Randy Farmer, Chief Operating Office of the Delaware Health Information Network; Carolyn Morris, Director of Telehealth, Planning and Development for DHSS and a founder of the Delaware Telehealth Coalition; Catherine Burch, Director of the Health & Technology Center at Christiana Care Health System; and Martha Hall, Director of Innovation at UD’s College of Health Sciences.
To conclude the event, Rep. Michael Smith moderated a legislative panel that included Sen. Bryan Townsend, and Reps. David Bentz and Melissa Minor-Brown.
To learn more about the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce:
NCCo Chamber’s Innovations in Healthcare & Expo
In her keynote address Thursday at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce’s Innovations in Healthcare & Expo, DHSS Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker said Delaware’s health care spending and quality benchmarks will add transparency and accountability to Delaware’s health care system. In 2014, Delaware had the third-highest per-capita rate of health care spending in the country, behind only Alaska and Massachusetts. Working with Governor John Carney, the General Assembly and health care stakeholders across the state, the Governor signed Executive Order 25, which provides for a health care spending benchmark (3.8% in 2019) and eight quality benchmarks – targets for overall population health change -- in the areas of emergency department use, substance use disorder and cardiovascular disease.
Secretary Walker said the state also is pursuing a plan to reduce premiums on the health insurance marketplace to make the coverage more affordable for people who are not eligible for employer-based insurance, too young for Medicare, make too much for Medicaid, have aged off their parents’ insurance or are self-employed. She said the reinsurance plan would be “so relevant for the innovation economy.”
The more than 100 attendees were welcomed to the STAR Campus by UD’s College of Health Sciences Dean Kathleen Matt. She encouraged business people to “think about more things we can do together.” Dean Matt said the STAR Campus brings the community in, which leads to inspiration. Inspiration leads to innovation, which leads to impact. And that impact changes the health outcomes for the people of Delaware.
Following her keynote, Secretary Walker moderated a panel on health care innovation that included Randy Farmer, Chief Operating Office of the Delaware Health Information Network; Carolyn Morris, Director of Telehealth, Planning and Development for DHSS and a founder of the Delaware Telehealth Coalition; Catherine Burch, Director of the Health & Technology Center at Christiana Care Health System; and Martha Hall, Director of Innovation at UD’s College of Health Sciences.
To conclude the event, Rep. Michael Smith moderated a legislative panel that included Sen. Bryan Townsend, and Reps. David Bentz and Melissa Minor-Brown.
To learn more about the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce: