Deal signs bill to designate funding for burn trauma centers

In Augusta and Columbia County today, Gov. Nathan Deal signed three bills into law. The governor signed HB 307, a bill that designates burn trauma centers treating the largest portion of significant burn cases -- at least 300 patients annually -- as designated facilities of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission.

“Despite Georgia’s fast-paced growth and a population of more than 9.8 million people in our state, we have only two major burn trauma centers, which bear the demand of treating patients with serious burn injuries. One center is at Doctors Hospital in Augusta; the other is at Grady Hospital in Atlanta,” said Deal. “This designation will permit Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission funding for the treatment of indigent burn victims at these burn centers.

“We must ensure our state is well-positioned to continue to provide critical care to victims of these life-threatening injuries.”

Deal signed the bill during a ceremony at the Enterprise Mill in Augusta. While there, Deal also enacted SB 240, a bill that creates a new class of motor vehicles and personal transportation vehicles (golf carts). Georgia is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of golf carts, and this legislation aims not only to promote the use of golf carts but also to support job growth in the state.

Earlier in the day during the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce’s post-legislative session breakfast at Savannah Rapids Pavilion in Martinez, he signed HB 280, which allows counties and municipalities with excess 911 funds to utilize that money for 911-related expenses. Currently that money was restricted to expenses as defined when the Georgia Emergency Telephone Act was passed in 1977, and HB 280 permits money to be spent on modern technologies. Deal was joined by Columbia County Sheriff Clay Whittle for the bill signing.

Bills can be read in their entirety at http://www.legis.ga.gov/en-US/default.aspx

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The Marcus Foundation Gives $20 Million to Grady Health System

/PRNewswire/ -- The Marcus Foundation today announced a $20 million gift to Grady Health System to improve emergency care to trauma and acute neurological injury victims throughout Georgia. The gift will enable Grady to expand hospital space for trauma and brain injury victims and improve time-dependent therapies for stroke and acute neurological emergencies. The new facilities will be named The Marcus Stroke & Neuroscience Center at Grady and The Marcus Trauma Center at Grady.

The project involves renovating existing hospital space to expand Grady's Trauma Center capacity from four to six dedicated trauma bays with the proper equipment, space, and resuscitation capacity to enhance life-saving patient care. Patients could then be transferred for two to ten days of care in a new 20-bed Neuro Intensive Care Unit. The funding will cover the cost of construction, equipment and recruitment of five key physicians to support the facilities.

"This gift provides us the capital to expand and modernize Grady's Trauma Center and build a new Neuro Intensive Care Unit in existing unused hospital space," said Grady President and CEO Michael Young. "These improvements will enable Grady to advance its already strong trauma care services and provide cutting-edge acute emergency care for traumatic brain injury and stroke patients. In addition to improving care, the Neuro ICU program's solid reimbursement rates should contribute greatly to Grady's ongoing fiscal sustainability."

"Grady will now be able to offer metro Atlanta a much needed 'go to' facility for neurological emergencies that operates 24 hours a day," said Bernie Marcus, chairman of the Marcus Foundation. "It is imperative to other hospitals and services throughout Atlanta and Georgia, including the Shepherd Center's Acquired Brain Injury Program and the Marcus Community Bridge Program, that Grady continues to be the leader in trauma and acute care, with the most skilled medical personnel and most updated equipment. And we hope this donation encourages others to make funding commitments to enable this facility to continue doing so much good for all those it touches."

"We have stressed for years how vital Grady is to healthcare here in metro Atlanta and across the state. I think this gift from the Marcus Foundation is recognition not only of Grady's current status but also of its remarkable potential," said A.D. "Pete" Correll, chairman of Grady Memorial Hospital Corp., which oversees Grady Health System. "Personally, I am touched by the magnitude of Bernie and Billi's gift and professionally, I look forward to seeing its impact on a team that has proven it can translate research findings to clinical outcomes."

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Tax Hike for Trauma Care a Hard Sell, Says Senator

A tax hike to boost trauma network funding would find little public support, a state senator said in late October during a forum on Georgia’s trauma care system.

While lawmakers last year debated a $10 increase in car tag fees to pump money into Georgia’s network of hospitals providing trauma care, that proposal failed to pass. The Legislature did, however, give the state trauma commission a one-time allotment of $58 million to distribute.

With health advocates saying a permanent funding solution is needed, a number of proposals have emerged, including hikes in taxes paid on insurance premiums and motor vehicles. But a tax increase should be the last resort, said Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome).

“On most of the examples given to you today on the screen, there were two words beside each of the bullets and those words were ‘tax increase’ and that’s going to be a very difficult sell regardless of the merits of the argument for which you’re making the case,” Smith said during the forum at Georgia State University. “It is very difficult to turn back to the tax payers and say ‘This is an important need and we want you to bear more of the burden to provide [for] that need.’”

The forum, hosted by the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies with support from the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, was held to explore ways to fund the state’s trauma network, distribute the money fairly and make hospitals and healthcare providers accountable for the dollars spent. It was the third such forum the school has hosted this year.

Panelists included state Rep. Mickey Channell (R-Greensboro); Jim Craig, director of Health Protection for the Mississippi Department of Health; Gov. Sonny Perdue’s policy director Hanna Heck; and Georgia State associate economics professor Jim Marton and associate professor of health administration Patricia Ketsche.

Ketsche and Marton presented a report prepared by the Andrew Young School’s Fiscal Research Center which recommended a flat tag fee of $14 per vehicle, noting the fee would generate more than $100 million a year, a figure some say might be necessary. The report, prepared by economists Peter Bluestone and Robert Buschman, acknowledged however that the fee might not keep up with the rising cost of care over time.

The second-best funding mechanism would be an increase in the car tax rate. The least-preferred method, based on factors like revenue growth, how many people would be expected to pay in, impact on consumer behavior and ease of collection, would be surcharges on traffic tickets, the report said.

Smith said a number of possible funding mechanisms should be explored, including an idea to use money generated from tickets written by the Georgia State Patrol, which has always gone directly to the jurisdiction in which the violation occurred.

“There is a tremendous amount of revenue being generated for the benefit of locals, none of which goes to trauma care,” Smith said.

The trauma network in Mississippi, Craig said, is funded by a combination of fees on tickets for moving violations, DUIs and speeding, an increase in car tag taxes and other sources, including a fee on the purchase of all-terrain vehicles.

Craig said the state also requires hospitals to participate in the system to their full capability or face substantial fines.

Channell, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on healthcare, said he was open to the idea of exploring mandatory participation.

“I think that we need, potentially, to look at reorganizing or organizing in a different fashion,” he said.

Heck, Perdue’s policy director, said the governor has concerns about dedicating new funding streams that bypass legislative review.

“By the very nature of going through the legislative appropriations process, we subject those funds to review, and say ‘are they being used in the right manner for Georgia? … Are they providing value?’”

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New Trauma Center Locator Map Shows If Georgia Counties Are Within the “Golden Hour”

A new interactive trauma center locator map shows whether you, your family and your friends can get to a Georgia trauma center within the “golden hour.”

A trauma patient's chances of survival increase dramatically if he or she receives care within the "golden hour" immediately following injury. Rapid response by emergency medical technicians in ground and air ambulances is critical. So is the distance to the nearest trauma center - a special hospital facility with the resources and medical specialists to handle the most severe injuries.

The trauma center locator map, which is part of the http://www.georgiaitsabouttime.com/ trauma awareness Web site, shows how far each county is from the nearest Georgia trauma center. You simply click on a county to see if it is within an hour of a trauma center.

The map shows that all or parts of more than 50 counties in South Georgia are not within the golden hour.

The golden hour is defined as within 50 miles of a trauma center. Distances are estimates and do not account for traffic delays.

Georgia is served by only 15 trauma centers – about half the number needed, according to state health officials – and many areas of the state currently lack access to adequate emergency transportation. As a result, trauma death rates are significantly higher than the national average. If Georgia’s death rate improved to the national average, it would mean a difference of as many as 700 more lives saved every year.

The trauma center locator map is part of the Georgia It’s About Time trauma awareness campaign which is funded through a grant from Healthcare Georgia Foundation. The campaign is aimed at helping to establish a statewide trauma system that will serve all Georgians, including many in rural areas of the state that are currently lacking access to adequate emergency transportation and trauma care.

About the Trauma Awareness Campaign and the Georgia Statewide Trauma Action Team
(GSTAT): The trauma awareness campaign is designed to educate Georgians about the need for a statewide trauma system. It is funded through a grant by Healthcare Georgia Foundation (www.healthcaregeorgia.org.) The Georgia Statewide Trauma Action Team (GSTAT) is a coalition of hospitals, EMS providers, physicians, nurses, local government officials, business leaders and others interested in creating a statewide trauma system. For more information, please visit www.georgiaitsabouttime.com.
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80 Georgia Lawmakers to Meet with Trauma Care Specialists September 29

80 Georgia lawmakers to meet with trauma care specialists Statewide briefing on trauma care on Monday, September 29 is free and open to health care providers, business and community leaders, educators, and the media at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot in downtown Atlanta.

More than 80 Georgia legislators will meet next Monday, September 29, with dozens of trauma care professionals, other health care providers, and active stakeholders to brief government and the public on the status of the Georgia statewide trauma care system. Some 118 state lawmakers have signed on as hosts and supporters of this project, and they are working to develop a permanent funding source.

The Trauma Care in Crisis statewide briefing is expected to draw several hundred participants to the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot in downtown Atlanta for the luncheon forum from 10 AM till 1 PM.

The event is free and open to health care professionals and others interested in trauma care.

Topics covered by speakers and panelists will include an overview of the statewide trauma system, legislation, preparedness, the regional approach, communication, business, funding, and prevention.

Speakers representing major hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS), universities, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, and business organizations will present a variety of perspectives on how to establish and fund a comprehensive statewide trauma care system to serve all the people of Georgia.

The briefing is sponsored by Healthcare Georgia Foundation, a non-profit grantmaking institution that has funded a series of roundtables and forums facilitated by Atlanta-based Reece & Associates, a group that specializes in public policy and government relations.

Register online now > or call Christine Jordan at (404) 586-2100.

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Andrew Young School Forum Will Examine State, Regional Trauma Systems

During the second of three scheduled forums on trauma care hosted by the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, the focus will move outside of Georgia.
As policy makers grapple with how to coordinate and fund a statewide trauma network, the Andrew Young School forum will feature presentations by trauma experts from Maryland and Richmond, Va., where coordinated services are already in place.

The forum is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Aug. 6 at the Andrew Young School, 14 Marietta Street.

Expected attendees include health care professionals and advocates as well as state lawmakers.
“We want to make sure we give them information that’s relevant and facilitates discussion among the various groups,” said Tom Wade, director of program development for the Public Performance and Management Group of the Andrew Young School, who chairs the steering committee organizing the forums.

Scheduled presenters include Mary Beachley, the chief of the Health Facilities and Special Programs division of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems; and Jerry Overton, the CEO of the Richmond Ambulance Authority in Richmond, Va.

Also scheduled to speak are Dennis Ashley, the chairman of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission; state Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta), the chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services committee; Gage Ochsner, the chief of trauma services at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, and Dan Miears, a trauma survivor and advocate.

The Trauma Care Network Commission, which was established to oversee the coordination of trauma care efforts, recently doled out a one-time appropriation from the General Assembly of about $57 million. It’s expected that lawmakers will continue looking for a permanent funding source for the trauma network when they convene next year.

“I do think that it is a mistake to say we don’t have a [trauma] system,” Patrick O’Neal, the director of preparedness for the Georgia Division of Public Health, told the group at the first forum in June. “We do have somewhat of a system, but it’s anything but what we need in terms of an optimal system.”

Health advocates say a permanent funding source is needed to ensure cohesion and coordination in the network, and the Institute of Medicine, in a series of reports issued earlier this year, recommended a coordinated and regionalized trauma system.

In a brief prepared for the Georgia Health Policy Center, Patricia Ketsche, an associate professor of health administration at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, discussed the Institute of Medicine recommendations.

“In many regions of the country and in Georgia, a variety of agencies and organizations comprise the trauma system,” she wrote. “These distinct organizations lack a formal mechanism to ensure the exchange of information between those who receive the initial call, providers of EMS care and transportation, hospital emergency departments and trauma centers, and public health agencies.”

A 2007 report by a joint House-Senate study committee on trauma care in Georgia noted that only 30 percent of trauma cases are treated in designated trauma centers, contributing to a trauma-related death rate 20 percent above the national average. Meeting the national average, the report said, would save 700 or more lives every year.

Fifteen of the state’s 152 acute care hospitals are trauma centers, and only four of those – facilities in Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Savannah – are Level 1 centers able to provide the highest level of care.

“In 2003, American hospitals told a half-million in-bound ambulances, ‘don’t go to me, go someplace else.’ They were diverted,” Arthur Kellermann, associate dean for health policy at Emory School of Medicine and a Grady doctor, told the first forum. “The reason is a mismatch of supply and demand,” he said.

Kellermann compared a scarcity of bed space and bursting-at-the-seams emergency departments to the proposition of parking planes on the runways of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and diverting all incoming flights.

“That’s what we do when we pack people in the ER. We’re the runway of the hospital,” he said.
The third and final forum in the series will be scheduled this fall, and delve into the financing of a statewide trauma network and making such a network accountable for dollars spent.