House Passes Legislation to Reauthorize Trauma Care Programs

House Passes Legislation to Reauthorize 

Trauma Care Programs 

On June 24, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by voice vote H.R. 4080, the Trauma Systems and Regionalization of Emergency Care Pilot Projects Reauthorization Act. This legislation would reauthorize the Trauma Care Systems Planning Grants and the Regionalization of Emergency Care Systems Pilot Projects. The grants would support state and rural development of trauma systems through 2019, and the pilot projects would work to implement and evaluate innovative models of regionalized emergency care. The legislation also would mandate that states update their trauma care plan with input from new stakeholders one year after enactment. 

The Senate introduced companion legislation, S. 2405, on May 22, which, at press time, was awaiting review and passage. Fellows are encouraged to use SurgeonsVoice.org to contact their senators and ask their legislators to pass S. 2405. SurgeonsVoice is an interactive program that allows Fellows to build relationships with lawmakers and encourage them to take action on issues that affect surgery and surgical patient care.