Healthcare

This bill designates April 2026 as "National Donate Life Month" within the State of Delaware. It serves as a symbolic recognition to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation during that specific time period. The measure does not alter any laws or create new programs but simply establishes an official state designation for the month.

This concurrent resolution recognizes April 25th, 2026, as "Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Day" in Delaware and encourages all Delawareans, particularly those living with diabetes, to prioritize regular comprehensive eye examinations and screening for diabetic eye disease as an essential part of their health care.

In Delaware, all individual health insurance policies, all group and blanket health insurance policies, the State employee health insurance plan, and Medicaid are required to cover chiropractic and physical therapy treatment for chronic back pain without annual or lifetime numerical limits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits. To evaluate the effectiveness of this coverage requirement, the Patient Centered Care Subcommittee of the Addiction Action Committee, under the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, sent a survey to chiropractic therapy and physical therapy providers in Delaware. Although the survey showed that the coverage requirement has improved treatment of chronic pain patients, the survey also showed that the coverage requirement provides supportive chronic pain treatment for only the thoracic region of the spine, which is the middle of the spine from the base of the neck to the bottom of the ribs, and the lumbar region of the spine, which is the lower back. The treatment of chronic pain through chiropractic supportive care, physical therapy, or both, can prevent a patient from requiring opioid pain medications or more expensive treatments, but excluding vital areas of the spine and body from coverage may limit the effectiveness of chiropractic therapy and physical therapy treatment and limits a chronic pain patient’s potential for improvement. This Act encourages treatment of chronic pain patients without opioids by updating the required health insurance coverage to prohibit annual or lifetime numerical visits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits that are for the purpose of treating the spine and other neuromusculoskeletal structures, including extremities. The updated coverage required under this Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2026. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The purpose of this Act is to expand patient access to physical therapy services. Currently, a physical therapist may treat an individual without a referral up to 30 days after which time a physician must be consulted. The amendment extends that deadline to 90 days with the objective of ensuring continuity of care. Physical therapists will still be required to practice within their scope of training and expertise. This Act also clarifies the requirements for renewal and reactivation of licenses to ensure consistency with other Title 24 boards and the processes used by the Division of Professional Regulation.

This Concurrent Resolution requests the Delaware Department of Education to develop a working group of health educators to continually improve the K-12 Comprehensive Health Education Programming, ensuring skills-based health education is accessible to all children throughout the state. This will require the review of information from parents and families, students, administrators, superintendents, other DE state agencies, and other organizations as needed to inform recommended changes to the Delaware Health Standards that will need to be adopted by the State Board of Education. The Department will provide a summary report of the information reviewed by the working group, summary of the annual health education survey and recommended new Delaware health standards. The summary report will be provided to the Governor, members of the General Assembly, and the State Board of Education, and the Director and the Librarian of the Division of Legislative Services.

HCR 109 designates the week of April 11 through April 17, 2026, as Black Maternal Health Awareness Week throughout the state of Delaware. This legislative measure is a formal recognition intended to highlight the importance of maternal health outcomes for Black women during that specific period. The bill does not create new laws, allocate funding, or change government operations; it serves solely as a symbolic declaration passed by both the House and Senate.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes March 2026 as “Kidney Month” in Delaware and highlights the importance of kidney disease awareness, prevention, early detection, and organ donation.

This resolution recognizes recognizes the indispensable role of FNE programs in delivering trauma-informed healthcare, supporting survivors, and strengthening the criminal justice system.

This House Concurrent Resolution recognizes the significant contributions of nurses as frontline healthcare workers, recognizes the importance of basic protections and rights for this profession, and resolves that the rights of nurses are upheld and promoted throughout the state.

This Act supports critical health care workforce research and planning efforts by giving the Division of Public Health and the Delaware Health Care Commission the ability to obtain comprehensive workforce-related data from the Division of Professional Regulation. It requires the Division of Public Health’s Office of Healthcare Provider Resources to collaborate with the Delaware Health Care Commission and the Division of Professional Regulation to determine what data should be collected from health care providers during the licensing and renewal process to assist the Division of Public Health with workforce research and planning. This Act also directs the Division of Professional Regulation to collect health care workforce-related data during the licensing or renewal processes. The data collected will be for purpose of health care workforce research and planning and will not include personal information such as personal financial information. The health care provider licensing process provides a rich opportunity for this State to obtain information it needs to ensure that its health care workforce is equipped to meet the needs of Delaware residents. Collecting data with the goal of informing health care workforce research and planning is a common practice nationwide, with at least 28 states collecting health care workforce data as part of the licensing process. Such data will fill crucial gaps in the Division of Public Health’s ability to understand health care workforce needs and develop policies and programs aimed at meeting them. As is currently the case, health care workforce data collected by the Division of Professional Regulation may only be used for official state business. This Act provides that official state business includes the following purposes specific to health care workforce research and planning: 1. Identifying and tracking data related to Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), Maternity Care Target Areas (MCTAs), and Medically Underserved Areas and Populations (MUA/Ps), and other initiatives identified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. 2. Health care workforce research and planning. 3. Understanding issues related to supply, demand, distribution, and use of health care workers. 4. Informing health care workforce policy. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law with the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.