Peter SchorschThere’s logic to limiting the number of hospitals that pop up in an area: if a region has too many, resources are spread thin and costs may not be easily recovered. Florida has a process for managing new hospital construction, and generally speaking, it works.
But trauma centers are different.
People using trauma centers don’t plan ahead for their visit. Traumas require immediate care.
Survival rates for critically injured people are best when they are treated within 60 minutes of an injury and when they are cared for in trauma centers. But that said, only half of trauma patients in Florida receive treatment in a designated trauma center.
Sadly, efforts to expand access to trauma care have been impeded by territorialism and politics.
Consider this: Before the opening of the Level II trauma center at Ocala Regional Medical Center, residents of The Villages were a long drive from the nearest trauma center. In the first four months of its operation, 512 patients were treated. That is, 512 very grateful patients.
But three nearby hospitals in the Ocala area feel differently. They see new trauma centers as providing “costly and duplicative” services and filed a lawsuit aimed to close some centers or prevent the licensing of new ones.
“How can anyone consider the one and only trauma center in the region to be ‘duplicative?'” wrote Gail Lazenby, captain of Villages Public Safety, in an April op-ed. “And unlike Florida’s taxpayer-funded hospitals, Ocala Regional’s trauma center was developed without any ‘cost’ to taxpayers. It is clear that those opposed to Ocala Regional’s trauma center continue to place their self-interests above what is best for trauma patients and the community.”
This is the type of feedback that the Florida Department of Health heard during statewide workshops held to draft a new rule for trauma-center approval.
The resulting draft rule provides criteria and a point structure to determine where new centers may open. These include factors such as population, median transport times and levels of community support.
To Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan, local input is crucial to the development of such criteria.
“The nearest trauma center in our community is located in one of the most populated tourist destinations in the United States, Orlando,” he said. “We appreciate, thank and commend the Florida Department of Health for presenting a draft rule that will consider the voice of local support and look forward to encouraging the consideration of tourism areas and how those surrounding communities are affected.”
Some of Florida’s newer trauma centers boast higher average survival rates and shorter average lengths of stay than other trauma centers throughout Florida. These improved outcomes could reflect factors such as quality of the services and shorter drive times for patients.
The fight to protect Florida’s trauma network spans all areas of the state.
“As public safety officials, we are obligated to support what is in the best interest of our community,” said Col. Craig Aldrich, Chief of Staff for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. “There is no question that Jacksonville continues to grow and traffic will continue to increase and with that presents a need for additional infrastructure in the event of a traumatic accident.
“Unfortunately, we see the worst of the worsts and therefore support any infrastructure that will help save additional lives, obviously regardless of hospitals monetary compensation. We look forward to supporting this effort and commend the Department of Health for reviewing the trauma center approval process and creating a reasonable draft rule.”
DOH will discuss the draft rule in three hearings, the first was on Wednesday in Pensacola.
In doing so, attention should be directed at ensuring the safety of Florida residents and visitors, not on worrying about whether patients may be “siphoned” away from existing hospitals.
Trauma is the leading cause of death for people under age 44, and the fifth leading cause of death for people of all ages.
These are people in critical need, not a “market share” of business to haggle over.
One comment
Rob Schellinger
November 25, 2013 at 5:21 am
Before Ocala, I wonder what the flight time from The Villages to the nearest trauma center. It would be nice if trauma patients weren’t treated like “market share”, but the reality is that trauma centers are very expensive as you have to have specialized equipment like CT and MRI handy as well as surgery specialists like ortho & neuro available round the clock.
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