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Restored trauma funding is just what the doctor ordered

University Hospital trauma center should receive an additional $1.5 million

(SAN ANTONIO - February 20, 2006) University Health System should receive an additional $1.5 million this year to cover some of the costs of providing uncompensated trauma care thanks to a state funding package announced last week by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick.

In total, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission received authorization to release some $27.6 million to Texas' trauma hospitals based on the amount of trauma care provided to uninsured patients. While University will receive the largest share in the South/Central Texas trauma region, the two military Level I Trauma Centers - Brooke Army Medical Center and Wilford Hall Medical Center - will also significantly benefit from this action, as will all Texas hospitals participating in the trauma system. Twenty-five hospitals in South/Central Texas are part of this system.

University Hospital is the lead Level I trauma center for a 22-county region of South/Central Texas. On an average day its trauma team is activated about a dozen times for critically-injured patients arriving by ambulance or helicopter. The lives of these individuals depend on the immediate availability of this highly-skilled team and the expensive resources found only at a Level I trauma center. University Hospital provides more than $13 million annually in uncompensated trauma care and, together, Texas trauma hospitals are currently losing about $200 million a year providing these life-saving services.

University Health System President/CEO George B. Hernández, Jr. applauded the authorization. "The money dedicated, and now allocated, to the Texas trauma system comes from fees and fines paid by bad drivers through the Texas Driver Responsibility Program - the very people who should pay the price for their irresponsibility." Hernández explained. "I am so pleased the lieutenant governor and the speaker understand the critical need to shore-up Texas' strained trauma system and took action to make it happen. This money will ultimately save lives." The Driver Responsibility Program, established by House Bill 3588 during the 2003 Legislative Session, requires those most likely to cause traumatic injuries - those who drive drunk or recklessly - to pay the price of assuring the trauma system is not threatened by the soaring costs of uncompensated trauma care.

The fines and surcharges paid by these drivers are dedicated to go to the state's trauma account, yet a budget rider at the end of the 2005 Legislative Session left some $77 million of the monies collected over the next two years in limbo and unavailable to use for trauma.

In August of last year, Gov. Rick Perry signed a budget execution order that included appropriating these funds to trauma but the order required approval by the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), which has yet to meet on the issue. The transfer of funds announced Thursday does not require LBB approval.

"We truly appreciate the efforts and actions of the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker, as well as the support and hard work of many of our elected officials, especially Rep. Dianne Delisi, to come up with a plan to utilize these funds as they were intended to be spent," said Ronald Stewart, MD, trauma medical director for University Hospital and associate professor of surgery at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. "These funds are certainly vital to our ability to provide immediate and appropriate trauma care on a daily basis. The Texas Trauma System and our trauma centers also play a critical role in our state's response to natural and intentional disasters. These funds will absolutely help our state be better prepared."

The $27.6 million released on February 16 brings the total state trauma appropriation up to $59.3 million. University Health System officials had projected to receive $1.7 for uncompensated trauma care based on the initial state appropriation of $31.7 million. The additional $1.5 million, expected as the result of this authorization, brings University Health System's estimated share of this revenue up to about $3.2 million.