Trauma Care Systems Development, Evaluation and Funding

Revised and approved by the ACEP Board of Directors April 2012

Reaffirmed by the ACEP Board of Directors September 2003

Revised and approved by the ACEP Board of Directors titled, "Trauma Care Systems Development, Evaluation and Funding" January 1999

Originally approved by the ACEP Board of Directors titled, "Trauma Care Systems Development and Evaluation" June 1998

Trauma care systems represent a continuum of integrated care that is a coordinated effort between out-of-hospital and hospital providers with close cooperation of medical specialists in each phase of care. Nationwide, trauma care systems are in various stages of development, implementation, and evaluation.

The most effective method of reducing morbidity, mortality, and costs due to injuries is to focus on injury prevention, coordination of acute care, and aggressive rehabilitation.  Collaborative efforts at the local, state, and national levels involving public and private partnerships, relevant stakeholders, and medical specialties are essential for the success of trauma care systems. Patients with time critical injuries should have their needs matched to an appropriate trauma care facility using out-of-hospital triage criteria developed by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS-CoT), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Legislation at the state and national levels must support unrestricted access of injured patients to an integrated system of trauma care irrespective of payment methods. Adequate funding of trauma systems including the availability of on-call specialists is essential to ensure access to high quality care for all patients.

Emergency physicians play a central role in the access and treatment of injured patients, and the management and evaluation of trauma care systems. ACEP, in collaboration with others, should provide a leadership role in injury prevention, system development, data sharing, research, and evaluation to ensure patient care effectiveness and cost efficiency.