Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) Trauma
service areas (TSAs) are established for effective coordination, oversight,
system development and enhancements, and delivery of trauma, stroke, perinatal,
acute care, disaster response, and emergency medical services (EMS) in
geographical regions consistent with national standards.
(b) Texas is geographically divided into
defined TSAs. Each TSA shall:
(1) contain no
fewer than three Texas counties;
(2) use county borders to geographically
define the TSA boundaries; and
(3)
have at least one designated trauma facility within its boundaries that has or
exceeds the advanced Level III trauma facility designation requirements as
defined in §
157.125
of this title (relating to Requirements for Trauma Facility
Designation).
(c) The
Department of State Health Services (department) shall maintain the current
list of counties included in each TSA and make the list available on the
department's website: dshs.texas.gov.
(d) The realignment of a county to a
different TSA may be initiated by the department or at the request of the
Regional Advisory Council (RAC), provided the transferring county is contiguous
to the county in the receiving TSA.
(1) The
requesting RAC shall submit a request to the Director of EMS/Trauma Systems
Section specifying:
(A) reasons for
realignment request such as a decrease in EMS transport time, access to higher
levels of care, or access to additional resources;
(B) existing patient routing patterns used by
both EMS providers and health care facilities, including distances and
transport times involved in this patient routing;
(C) a list of all health care facilities and
all first responder organizations, EMS providers, and county governments
affected by the requested realignment; and
(D) documentation that the RAC of the
receiving TSA agrees with the proposed re-alignment.
(2) The requesting RAC shall forward copies
of the request to all impacted health care facilities' chief executive officer,
first responder organizations, EMS provider medical directors, and county
governments.
(3) The department
evaluates the re-alignment request based on the impact to patient care,
including transport times, access to higher levels of care facilities, or
resources.
