Author: Robert Fojut

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) recently released the second update of Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient: 2022 Standards. The new December 2023 revision of the resources manual tightens up one requirement, relaxes a few others and makes a number of important clarifications. To download the latest version of the ACS trauma…

Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, has lost its Level II trauma center verification from the American College of Surgeons (ACS). An ACS spokesman confirmed the change in verification status on December 7, according to a report in the Idaho Statesman. During the hospital’s recent reverification survey, ACS reviewers identified “four findings that…

The principles of trauma performance improvement (PI) are well understood, but many trauma programs struggle with developing effective PI processes. One of the biggest challenges is achieving consistency in PI documentation and review. Trauma leaders at UCHealth in Colorado addressed this problem by creating a trauma PI dictionary that standardizes the entire performance improvement process…

Multidisciplinary peer review is a key element of trauma performance improvement. One major challenge is creating a peer review process that does not overburden the specialty liaisons to the trauma service. If too many cases are referred to the trauma multidisciplinary PIPS committee, overwhelm sets in, liaisons become disengaged, and the quality of review breaks…

In the 2022 revision of Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) made several key changes to response requirements for neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery and interventional radiology. The biggest compliance challenge in most trauma centers is documenting specialist response times. This article was created by Trauma System News with…

Under rules from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a trauma center cannot bill for a trauma team activation (TTA) using the revenue code UB 68x unless it has received prehospital notification of patient arrival. But according to an expert in trauma center management, there is a permissible way to charge for a…

Requirements covering trauma registry management are spread throughout Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient: 2022 Standards. These requirements touch on everything from trauma registry staffing and registrar education to trauma data quality and data utilization. To help trauma program leaders manage compliance more effectively, this article brings together and summarizes everything that the…

Trauma care professionals are known for their dedication and discipline — but the best trauma teams also excel at resourcefulness and creative thinking. That is why Peregrine Health Services and Trauma System News are pleased to announce the inaugural Peregrine Award for Trauma Innovation. The goal of the Peregrine Award for Trauma Innovation is to…

Trauma programs face significant resource constraints, so performance improvement (PI) efforts should focus on issues that have the greatest impact on patient outcomes. According to a new study, the most promising target for trauma PI today is pneumonia prevention. The study was conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin and published…

The first major revision of Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient in nearly a decade will be released in spring 2022. The 2022 Standards build on previous guidelines from the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and most of the changes are incremental developments. However, the new standards include several new expectations in staffing,…