Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
(1) Purpose: The department maintains a
trauma registry, as required by
RCW
70.168.060 and
70.168.090.
The purpose of this registry is to:
(a)
Provide data for trauma surveillance, analysis, and prevention
programs;
(b) Monitor and evaluate
the outcome of care of trauma patients, in support of statewide and regional
quality assurance and system evaluation activities;
(c) Assess compliance with state standards
for trauma care;
(d) Provide
information for resource planning, system design and management; and
(e) Provide a resource for research and
education.
(2)
Confidentiality:
RCW
70.168.090,
70.41.200,
and chapter 42.56 RCW apply to trauma registry data and patient quality
assurance proceedings, records, and reports developed pursuant to
RCW
70.168.090. Data elements related to the
identification of individual patient's, provider's, and facility's care
out-comes shall be confidential, shall be exempt from chapter 42.56 RCW, and
shall not be subject to discovery by subpoena or admissible as evidence.
Patient care quality assurance proceedings, records, and reports developed
pursuant to
RCW
70.168.090 are confidential, exempt from
chapter 42.56 RCW, and are not subject to discovery by subpoena or admissible
as evidence.
(a) The department may release
confidential information from the trauma registry in compliance with applicable
laws and regulations. No other person may release confidential information from
the trauma registry without express written permission from the
department.
(b) The department may
approve requests for trauma registry data reports from qualified agencies or
individuals, consistent with applicable statutes and rules. The department may
charge reasonable costs associated with customized reports, prepared in
response to such requests.
(c)
The department has established criteria defining
situations in which additional trauma registry information is confidential, in
order to protect confidentiality for patients, providers, and
facilities.
(d) Subsection
(2)(a) through (d) of this section does not limit access to confidential data
by approved regional quality assurance and improvement programs established
under chapter 70.168 and described in WAC
246-976-910.
(3) Inclusion criteria: The
department establishes inclusion criteria to identify those injured patients
whom trauma services must report to the trauma registry.
(a) The criteria includes all patients who
were discharged with International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnosis
codes for injuries, drowning, burns, asphyxiation, or electrocution per the
department's specifications and one of the following additional criteria:
(i) The trauma service trauma resuscitation
team (full or modified) was activated for the patient;
(ii) The patient was dead on arrival at the
trauma service;
(iii) The patient
was dead at discharge from the trauma service;
(iv) The patient was transferred by ambulance
into the trauma service from another facility;
(v) The patient was transferred by ambulance
out of the trauma service to another acute care facility;
(vi) The patient was an adult patient (age
fifteen or greater) and was admitted to the trauma service and had a length of
stay of more than twenty-four hours;
(vii) The patient was a pediatric patient
(ages under fifteen years) and was admitted to the trauma service, regardless
of length of stay; or
(viii) The
patient was an injured patient flown from the scene.
(b) For all licensed rehabilitation services,
the criteria includes all patients who received rehabilitative care for acute
injury or illness.
(4)
Other data: The department and regional quality assurance programs may request
data from medical examiners and coroners to be used in support of the trauma
registry.
(5) Data submission: The
department establishes procedures and format for trauma services to submit data
electronically. These will include a mechanism for the reporting agency to
check data for validity and completeness before data is sent to the trauma
registry.
(6) Data quality: The
department establishes mechanisms to evaluate the quality of trauma registry
data. These mechanisms will include :
(a)
Detailed protocols for quality control, consistent with the department's most
current data quality guidelines.
(b) Validity studies to assess the
timeliness, completeness and accuracy of case identification and data
collection.
(7) Trauma
registry reports:
(a) Annually, the
department reports:
(i) Summary statistics
and trends for demographic and related trauma care information for the state
and for each emergency medical service/trauma care (EMS/TC) region;
(ii) Risk adjusted benchmarking and outcome
measures, for system-wide evaluation and regional quality improvement
programs;
(iii) Trends, patient
care outcomes, and other data, for the state and each EMS/TC region , for the
purpose of regional evaluation; and
(iv) Aggregate regional data upon request,
excluding any confidential or identifying data.
(b) The department will provide reports to
trauma services and qualified agencies upon request, according to the
confidentiality provisions in subsection (2) of this section.
Statutory Authority:
RCW
70.168.060 and
70.168.090. 09-23-083, §
246-976-420, filed 11/16/09, effective 12/17/09; 02-02-077, § 246-976-420,
filed 12/31/01, effective 1/31/02. Statutory Authority:
Chapters
18.71,
18.73, and 70.168 RCW. 00-08-102,
§ 246-976-420, filed 4/5/00, effective 5/6/00. Statutory Authority:
RCW
43.70.040 and
chapters
18.71,
18.73 and 70.168 RCW. 93-01-148
(Order 323), § 246-976-420, filed 12/23/92, effective
1/23/93.