![utah trauma center levels utah trauma center levels](https://s3.amazonaws.com/uchealth-wp-uploads/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/04/23100029/UCHealth-Memorial-Hospital-.jpg)
But that can vary based on factors such as the distance to the next high level trauma center, the presence of industries such as mining or logging and local speed limits.
![utah trauma center levels utah trauma center levels](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/05/36/73/18214607/3/rawImage.jpg)
The American College of Surgeons, which verifies the quality of some trauma centers, generally recommends having one or two high-level trauma centers for every 1 million people. Lower-level trauma centers (known as level 3, 4 or 5), which account for most of the new centers, typically stabilize a patient and arrange for their transfer to a higher-level unit. Many also have their own operating rooms and diagnostic equipment. The highest-level centers (known as level 1 and level 2) have specially trained staff and surgeons either on call, or at the hospital 24 hours a day. Victims treated at trauma centers have a 25 percent higher survival rate compared to those seen in hospitals without those services, according to a 2006 New England Journal of Medicine study. Trauma injuries, usually from car accidents, gun and knife violence, or falls, are the leading cause of death for people under 45. Some nonprofits, including Kaiser Permanente and Dignity Health, a large Catholic health system, have also competed with hospitals in Sacramento, Solano, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties in California to offer trauma services. Kevin Hamilton and Jason Maddox, both with Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, work with Trauma Tech Jennifer Browning and Trauma Nurse Marilyn Perez-Horrell to remove the backboard from under an auto accident victim so that they can perform triage in the Trauma Center at Shands Jacksonville (Photo by Bob Self for USA Today/KHN). Another for-profit hospital chain, Community Health Systems, added seven trauma centers in the past three years. Since 2009, it has added or is planning to add about 20 trauma centers, including almost a dozen in Texas and Florida, as part of an expansion of its emergency room business. Leading the trend is Nashville-based HCA, according to state data. The growth reverses more than a decade of closures in the 1990s and early 2000s. States with the greatest number of new centers include Texas, Alabama, Arizona and California. Such disputes are becoming more common as hospitals across the country add trauma centers at a record pace, spurred in part by the lure of greater profits. More than 200 trauma centers have opened since 2009 in more than 20 states, and another 75 hospitals are seeking approvals, according to data collected by Kaiser Health News from state health agencies. “Adding new trauma centers will only increase costs for hospitals, taxpayers and consumers.” “We believe HCA is responding not to a market need, but instead is exploiting the system to increase their revenues,” said Jim Burkhart, CEO of nonprofit Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, which had operated the region’s lone trauma center since 1983. (Photo by Bob Self for USA Today/KHN).īut that’s not how its competitor 18 miles away saw the move by Orange Park Medical and its parent, HCA Holdings, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain. Trauma Center staff at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla.