Dear Representatives Burgess and Green:
On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological Surgeons
(CNS), we would like to thank you for introducing the “Trauma Systems and Regionalization of Emergency Care
Reauthorization Act,” and are pleased to offer our strong support of this important legislation.
As you are aware, this bill would reauthorize crucial programs that provide grants to states for planning,
implementing, and developing trauma care systems, and establish pilot projects to design, implement, and evaluate
innovative models of emergency care systems. We sincerely appreciate your continued leadership in recognizing
the importance of these systems of care in saving lives and offer our assistance to help advance this legislation.
Based on recommendations issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its groundbreaking report in June 2006,
“Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System,” these grant programs address the current tragic
situation that faces injured and ill Americans across the country. Among other things, the report found that hospital
emergency departments and trauma centers across the country are severely overcrowded, emergency care is highly
fractured, and critical surgical specialists are often unavailable to provide emergency and trauma care.
To alleviate this situation, the IOM called for a complete overhaul of our nation’s emergency and trauma care by
creating a coordinated and regionalized system of care modeled after the Trauma Systems program. According to
the report, the “objective of regionalization is to improve patient outcomes by directing patients to facilities with
optimal capabilities of any given type of illness or injury.” Furthermore, the report states, “Trauma systems provide
a valuable model for how such coordination could and should operate.” Your bill addresses these problems and is
a crucial step in ensuring that Americans receive the emergency and trauma care they expect and deserve.
We urge swift passage of this essential legislation. Your acknowledgement of the need to ensure that these
systems are available to all Americans is greatly appreciated and we thank you for your leadership and
commitment to these pivotal programs.
…
Read full letter here
