07 LC 28
3286
Senate
Bill 60
By:
Senators Staton of the 18th, Johnson of the 1st, Adelman of the 42nd, Unterman
of the 45th, Bulloch of the 11th and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to health, so
as to establish the Georgia Trauma Commission; to provide for its composition,
membership, duties, and responsibilities; to provide that hospitals offering or
seeking to offer emergency trauma services may add additional beds or operating
rooms for emergency trauma purposes without the necessity of applying for a
certificate of need; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws;
and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Title
31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to health, is amended by
adding a new Article 5 to Chapter 11 to read as follows:
"ARTICLE
5
31-11-100.
(a)
There is created the Georgia Trauma Commission which is assigned to the
Department of Human Resources for administrative purposes only, as prescribed in
Code Section 50-4-3. The commission shall consist of nine members who shall be
appointed as provided in this Code section. Five members shall be appointed by
the Governor. The Governor shall include among his or her appointees a
physician who is actively involved in providing emergency trauma care, a
representative of a hospital that has a Level I trauma center, and a
representative of the emergency medical services community. Two members shall
be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor. Two members shall be appointed by the
Speaker of the House of Representatives. In making the initial appointments,
the Governor shall appoint three members for a term of four years and two
members for a term of two years, the Lieutenant Governor shall appoint one
member for a term of four years and one member for a term of two years, and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint one member for a term of
four years and one member for a term of two years. Thereafter, persons
appointed to succeed the initial members shall serve four-year terms of office.
The Governor shall appoint one of the members to serve as the chairperson of the
commission.
(b)
The commission shall meet upon the call of the chairperson or upon the request
of three members. The commission shall organize itself as it deems appropriate
and may elect additional officers from among its members.
(c)
Any vacancy on the commission shall be filled for the unexpired term by
appointment by the original appointing authority.
(d)
Members of the commission shall serve without compensation but shall receive the
same expense allowance per day as that received by a member of the General
Assembly for each day such member of the commission is in attendance at a
meeting of such commission, plus either reimbursement for actual transportation
costs while traveling by public carrier or the same mileage allowance for use of
a personal car in connection with such attendance as members of the General
Assembly receive. Such expense and travel allowance shall be paid in lieu of
any per diem, allowance, or other remuneration now received by any such member
for such attendance.
31-11-101.
The
Georgia Trauma Commission shall have the following duties and
responsibilities:
(1)
To apply for, receive, and administer state funds appropriated to the commission
and federal funds and grants, private grants and donations, and other funds and
donations;
(2)
To develop, implement, administer, and maintain a system to compensate
designated trauma centers for a portion of their cost of readiness through a
biannual appropriation from the Georgia Trauma Fund in a standardized amount
determined by the commission. The standardized amounts shall be determined
according to designation level and shall be capped at that specific amount.
Initially, such standardized amount shall be based upon a three-year average of
annual trauma cases, annual amount of uncompensated trauma care administered,
expenditures for compensating specialists and physicians for taking call, and a
three-year annual average cost of readiness. Such criteria may be changed by a
majority vote of the commission;
(3)
To develop, implement, administer, and maintain a system to provide additional
hospital compensation to cover trauma center costs not associated with readiness
based upon an application and review based process. These appropriations will
be capped and limited to biannual appropriations. Applicants shall be required
to submit a proposal for the use of the funds and, once the funds are received,
submit quarterly reports documenting and verifying the use of such
funds.
(4)
To develop, implement, administer, and maintain a system to compensate
physicians who provide uncompensated call and trauma services. These
appropriations shall be distributed on a biannual basis and paid on a formula to
be set by the commission. The call hours must be documented and verified by the
trauma director at the appropriate trauma hospital in order to receive such
funds;
(5)
To reserve and disburse additional moneys to increase the number of participants
in the Georgia trauma system. These funds shall be disbursed through an
application process to cover partial startup costs for nondesignated acute care
facilities to enter the system as Level II, III, or IV trauma centers.
Additionally, the State Office of EMS/Trauma should receive funds to properly
recruit additional trauma centers into the network;
(6)
To develop, implement, administer, and maintain a grant based system to
compensate members of the emergency medical service community proportional to
the process described in paragraph (3) of this Code section. Only state 9-1-1
zone licensed services shall be able to participate in this funding. Such
emergency medical service providers may also apply for additional funds to cover
expansion, service improvements, and reimbursement for a percentage of their
licensing fees. The commission shall also establish a system of incentives for
emergency medical technicians who further their licenses and qualifications and
continue to serve in Georgia´s trauma care system;
(7)
To appropriate, out of the Georgia Trauma Fund, annual moneys for investment in
a state-wide helicopter system specifically for trauma system transportation.
The purpose of this system is to provide immediate air transport to trauma
victims anywhere in the state, free of charge. The commission shall promulgate
rules and regulations for such system and shall pursue contracts with existing
state transportation structures or create a contractual arrangement with
existing transportation organizations. The commission shall also be responsible
for creating, maintaining, and overseeing a foundation to raise funds
specifically for investment in this helicopter system and overall trauma
funding;
(8)
To act as the accountability mechanism for the entire Georgia trauma system,
primarily overseeing the flow of funds from the Georgia Trauma Fund into the
system. The State Office of EMS/Trauma shall receive an annual appropriation
from the commission to fund the administration of an adequate system for
monitoring state-wide trauma and for research as needed to continue to operate
and improve the system;
(9)
To coordinate its activities with the Department of Human
Resources;
(10)
To employ and manage staff and consultants in order to fulfill its duties and
responsibilities under this article;
(11)
To establish, maintain, and administer a trauma center network to coordinate the
best use of existing trauma facilities in this state and to direct patients to
the best available facility for treatment of traumatic injury;
(12)
To coordinate, assist, establish, maintain, and administer programs designed to
educate the citizens of this state on trauma prevention;
(13)
To coordinate and assist in the collection of data to evaluate the provision of
trauma care services in this state; and
(14)
To study the provision of trauma care in this state to determine the best
practices and methods of providing such care, to determine what changes are
needed to improve the provision of trauma care, and to report any proposed
legislative changes to the General Assembly each year. "
SECTION
2.
Said
title is further amended by adding a new subsection (e) to Code Section 31-6-40,
relating to certificates of need, to read as follows:
"(e)
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this article, a hospital that offers or
seeks to offer emergency trauma services may add additional beds or operating
rooms for trauma purposes without the necessity of applying for a certificate of
need otherwise required by this article."
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.