Medical journal points to Milford Wellness Village as model for rural health care

Peer-reviewed article says the Milford campus is improving access, supporting seniors and demonstrating the potential to reduce health care costs

By George D. Rotsch, Editor of Milford LIVE

MILFORD — A new article in the peer-reviewed Delaware Journal of Public Health identifies Milford Wellness Village as a promising model for delivering coordinated health care and social services in rural communities.

The article concludes that the Milford campus is helping older adults manage chronic illnesses, remain independent and gain access to services that are often difficult to find in Kent and Sussex counties.

Published by the Delaware Academy of Medicine and Public Health, the journal describes Milford Wellness Village as an integrated campus that brings together more than 30 health care and social-service providers at the former Bayhealth Milford Memorial Hospital property.

Read the full article in the Delaware Journal of Public Health

The journal uses a formal peer-review process in which qualified experts evaluate submissions for scientific, policy and analytical value, including the strength of their conclusions and interpretation of evidence.

That review gives the article greater credibility than a traditional promotional report, although its conclusions remain those of the authors.

The article, “Milford Wellness Village — Foundation of Value-Based Care in Rural Delaware,” was written by health policy consultants Jeanne De Sa and Andrew Spicer. It argues that the village’s combination of medical care, senior services, rehabilitation, care coordination and social support could provide a blueprint for other rural communities.

“By transforming this space into a co-located, multi-organizational ecosystem,” the authors wrote, Milford Wellness Village provides a broad continuum of care in one location.

The 22-acre campus includes a 256,000-square-foot former hospital building that has been redeveloped rather than demolished or converted to an unrelated commercial use. The journal said the approach preserved a familiar, centrally located health care facility while avoiding some of the time and expense associated with building a new campus.

Addressing rural health care gaps

The article says older residents in southern Delaware face a series of interconnected challenges, including provider shortages, transportation difficulties, social isolation and fragmented medical care.

Those barriers can contribute to unnecessary emergency-room visits, interrupted treatment and the premature placement of seniors in nursing facilities, according to the authors.

Milford Wellness Village was designed to address those problems by placing providers and support organizations near one another and creating systems through which they can coordinate care.

Services on the campus range from primary and preventive care to physical therapy, behavioral health, chronic-disease management, senior care and skilled nursing.

Providers and programs identified by the journal include Village Primary Care, La Red Health Center, Aquacare Physical Therapy, Easterseals Delaware, PACE Your LIFE and Polaris Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center.

PACE Your LIFE provides coordinated medical, nutritional, rehabilitative and social services for older adults who need a nursing-home level of care but prefer to continue living in the community.

Polaris operates a 100-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility designed in part to help patients recover after hospitalization and return safely to independent living.

Evidence of improved outcomes

The journal points to the WeCare program as one of the strongest examples of the village’s potential impact.

Administered by Education Health and Research International, WeCare uses nurses and care coordinators to assist at-risk seniors across southern Delaware. Its services include chronic-disease education, diabetes management, fall prevention and medication support.

According to the article, a three-year independent evaluation by the University of Delaware found that WeCare participants reported improvements in quality of life and maintained or improved their ability to perform activities associated with daily living.

A related analysis conducted with the Delaware Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance and the Delaware Health Information Network found measurable savings in health care use among participants when compared with a similar group of older adults who were not enrolled, the journal reported.

The authors said those findings suggest coordinated community care can reduce the risk of expensive hospitalization or institutional care while allowing more older adults to remain at home.

Moving toward value-based care

The article describes Milford Wellness Village as an example of “value-based care,” a system in which providers are rewarded for improved health outcomes and efficient care rather than simply for performing a larger number of services.

Under that approach, services such as patient navigation, disease management, nutrition assistance and transportation support can be treated as part of health care because they may prevent more costly medical problems later.

The journal argues that the village’s structure is particularly well suited to that model because providers can coordinate treatment, monitor outcomes and address both medical conditions and the social circumstances that affect a patient’s health.

The article says the campus could help reduce spending by Medicare and Medicaid if coordinated care results in fewer hospital admissions, emergency visits and unnecessary nursing-home placements.

Training the rural workforce

The journal also highlights Milford Wellness Village’s role in addressing southern Delaware’s health care workforce shortage.

Milford Wellness Village and Education Health and Research International are working with Delaware State University on training and clinical programs focused on the needs of older adults.

The article says the federal Health Resources and Services Administration awarded a $5 million grant to Delaware State University and its lead partner, EHRI, to expand evidence-based chronic-disease programs for older adults with complex medical needs.

The authors conclude that the village offers “a highly reproducible blueprint” for geriatric and rural health care by combining clinical treatment, social services, workforce training and the reuse of an existing community asset.

The article also includes an important financial disclosure. De Sa and Spicer work for Healthsperien LLC, a Washington health policy consulting firm that provides strategic and policy advice to Milford Wellness Village. The authors said the article reflects their independent professional analysis.

That relationship should be considered when evaluating the article’s conclusions. However, publication in a journal that uses expert peer review gives the findings a level of outside scrutiny and professional validation that extends beyond claims made solely by Milford Wellness Village or its service providers.

Source: Jeanne De Sa and Andrew Spicer, “Milford Wellness Village — Foundation of Value-Based Care in Rural Delaware: Adaptive Reuse, Social Determinants of Health, and an Integrated Continuum of Care,” Delaware Journal of Public Health, July 2026, DOI: 10.32481/djph.2026.07.15.