House’s revised bill sets new criteria for number of metro trauma centers

TALLAHASSEE — A key House committee Monday scaled back a plan that would have eliminated a limit on the number of trauma centers in Florida — but the panel sought to ensure that a disp u t e d J a c k s o nv i l l e - a r e a trauma center can keep its doors open.

T h e H o u s e H e a l t h & Human Services Committee revamped a bill (HB 1077) that originally would have eliminated a limit of 44 trauma centers statewide and gotten rid of limits in 19 different geographic regions. The proposal, backed by Gov. Rick Scott, emerged after years of hospital-industry fights about new trauma centers.

The revised bill would keep in place the 44-center statewide cap, though it would set new criteria for the numbers of trauma facilities in seven metropolitan regions.

Under that criteria, what are known as “trauma service areas” with populations of more than 1.25 million people would be determined to have a need for a minimum of two trauma centers.

That means Palm Beach County’s need status would be a minimum two trauma centers, which it currently has: one at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach and one at Delray Medical Center.

Other areas qualifying for the minimum of two centers would be Broward County, Hillsborough County, the metro area that includes Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Sumter counties, the area that includes Pasco and Pinellas counties, and a five-county Northeast Florida area that comprises Clay, Duval, Baker, St. Johns and Nassau counties, House bill sponsor Jay Trumbull, R-Pan- ama City, said.

A trauma service area with a population of more than 2.5 million — currently only an area made up of MiamiDade and Monroe counties — would be determined to have a need for a minimum of four trauma centers.

T h e H o u s e H e a l t h & Human Services Committee, which voted 14-4 to approve the revised bill, is chaired by Orange Park Republican Travis Cummings. A Senate trauma-care bill (SB 746), however, has not been heard in committees.

Hospitals and the Department of Health have waged a series of legal battles about approvals of new trauma centers in recent years.

Supporters of eliminating limits on trauma centers argue that more facilities would help improve access to care for severely injured patients. But opponents of such proposals say trauma centers are costly to operate and require highly trained staff and that allowing more trauma centers would lead to a dilution of the quality of care.

Much of the discussion during Monday’s meeting focused on the Northeast Florida trauma district and a long-disputed trauma center at Orange Park Medical Center in Clay County. The Florida Depar tment of Health last year allowed the Orange Park hospital to open a trauma center, but the move was challenged by UF Health Jacksonville, which has long operated a trauma facility in neighboring Duval County.

The House bill, as revised Monday, would determine a need for a minimum of two trauma centers in the re gion, which effec tively would ensure that the Orange Park trauma center would remain open.