SAN DIEGO – Readiness and excellence in trauma services come at a high cost.
Michele G. Sullivan/MDedge News
Dr. Dennis W. Ashley
Level I trauma centers in Georgia lay out an average of $10 million each year to maintain the essential services necessary to operate at full throttle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At the Medical Center of Central Georgia, Macon, that amounts to about $4,480 per patient, Dennis W. Ashley, MD, said at the annual meeting of American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. The yearly tab comes to about $5 million for level II centers.
Medical staff pay was the biggest single driver of that cost, accounting for an average $5.5 million annually for level I centers and $3 million for level II centers.
“These readiness costs are incurred well before the first patient is even treated,” said Dr. Ashley, director of trauma and adult critical care at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. “These are costs required by trauma center regulations to maintain essential infrastructure – nonpatient care costs that the hospital would not have to pay if it were not a trauma center.”
Hospitals incur these costs to comply with standards outlined in “Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient,” otherwise known as the “Orange Book.”
To assess these by center, the Georgia Trauma Commission created a cost-reporting survey that was distributed to the state’s 6 level I centers and 10 level II centers in 2017. The surveys examined 2016 costs, and were carried out in conjunction with independent financial reviews to guarantee accurate reporting. Data were gathered in four general areas: administrative/program support staff, clinical medical staff, in-house operating room, and outreach and education.
During 2016, the 16 centers treated a total of 24,488 trauma patients: 15,660 in level I centers and 8,828 in level II centers.
Overall, the six level I centers spent a total of about $60.5 million in 2017 on resource readiness expense. The 10 level II centers spent a total of about $51 million. In all, trauma center status costs these institutions more than $112 million that year.
Salary and benefits for clinical and medical staff were the biggest cost driver for both types of trauma centers. Level I centers laid out a total of $33.2 million – about $5.5 million for each center. Level II centers paid a total of $31.7 million – about $3.1 million each.
Administrative and program support staff comprised the next largest expense. Level I centers paid abut $21.6 million altogether – $3.6 million each. Level II centers paid $13.9 million – about $1.4 million each.
The cost of maintaining constant operating room coverage accounted for $4.9 million in the level I centers ($830,000 each), and $2.5 million in level II centers (about $252,000 each).
Outreach and education comprised the smallest portion of spending. This accounted for a total of about $700,000 for level I centers and $1 million for level II centers ($115,000 and $109,000, respectively).
Dr. Ashley further broke down each general category. In the administrative and program support bucket, trauma program managers and trauma coordinators were the main cost drivers for both types of center. Trauma managers cost a grand total of $1.56 million: $113,000 for each level I center and $88,169 for level II centers. Trauma coordinators cost a grand total of $921,800 and senior administrative support accounted for a total of about $590,000.
Program support staff consisted of physical, occupational, and speech therapists, as well as research coordinators and others. The big-ticket items here were case managers, and staff providing physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Each of those services cost a total of about $6 million for all centers (around $600,000 for each level I center and $240,000 for each level II center).
Staffing trauma surgery made up the bulk of costs for clinical medical staff (a total of almost $19 million), followed by orthopedics ($13.8 million) and neurosurgery ($6.5 million).
Education and outreach were comparatively poorly funded, Dr. Ashley said. “We should do a better job on this,” he noted. All the centers combined spent about $340,000 on injury prevention, for example. Educational programs for emergency department staff made up about $590,000, and for intensive care unit staff, the total tab was about $174,000.
The survey plainly shows the financial commitment necessary to maintain high-quality trauma care, he said. “The significant cost of trauma center readiness highlights the need for additional trauma funding.”
He had no financial disclosures.