Bayhealth this week held a groundbreaking ceremony for Bayhealth Total Care as the state’s second-largest hospital system plants its flag in a fast-growing area of Sussex County.
Located at the intersection of Lewes-Georgetown Highway (Route 9) and Hudson Road in Milton, Bayhealth Total Care will be the first health care facility of its kind in Delaware, according to a release.
The facility will share some similarities with ChristianaCare’s center in Middletown. The Middletown site offers a suite of services, but stops short of operating as a hospital.
The Milton center will be home to a emergency and walk-in center, imaging and lab services, as well as primary and specialty care offices. The 48,500 square foot, health care facility is slated to open in a little more than a year in early 2023.
“This is a very exciting day as it marks a milestone in our commitment to providing southern Delaware access to top-quality healthcare, close to home,” said Bayhealth CEO Terry Murphy. “The opening of Bayhealth Total Care is the next big step in a well-thought-out plan to invest in health care across Sussex County. As our community will recall, nearly three years ago we opened Bayhealth Sussex Campus, our new, state-of-the-art hospital along Route 1, which has allowed us to better care for this community in a beautiful, well-equipped space using the latest technology.”
Bayhealth Total Care will add to the local area five primary care clinicians with the ability to cover thousands of patient visits every year. It will also offer community members access to specialty care doctors like neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, cardiologists, oncologists, and others, the release stated.
“This model will transform emergent and urgent care access for southern Delaware,” said Chief Medical Officer Gary Siegelman, MD. “Instead of guessing what level of care they need, patients can walk in the door and our trained medical professionals, including emergency certified physicians, will determine it for them.” A web addess, Bayhealth.org/Total-Care will offer updates on the project.
Sussex County has become the state’s most competitive health care market. Both Kent and New Castle County have hospital systems with dominent market shares (Bayhealth and ChristianaCare).
Beebe Healthcare serves the coastal area, with TidalHeath Nanticoke operating in the western area of the county. Bayhealth opened a new hospital in Milford that serves northern Sussex, with Atlantic General, Berlin, MD, locating physician offices in southern coastal Sussex.
Beebe has also been expanding outside the coastal corridor. Earlier, Beebe pulled out of plans for a medical campus in Milton after neighborhood opposition to the site.
ChristianaCare is also entering the coastal Sussex market with the conversion of retail space into offices.
A large number of current and former ChristianaCare patients have moved to Sussex County over the years.
Sussex is an attractive market for hospital systems, due to a large number of retirees and rapid population growth.
