Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center has been reverified as a Level III Trauma Center by the Verification Review Committee (VRC), an ad hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma (COT) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). This achievement recognizes Memorial Hospital’s dedication to providing optimal care for injured patients.
Verified trauma centers must meet the essential criteria that ensure trauma care capability and institutional performance, as outlined by the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma in its current Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient manual.
Memorial Hospital was first verified as a Level III trauma center in 2018. The reverification, which had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, will last three years, through May 16, 2025.
There are five separate categories of verification in the COT’s program: Level I Trauma Center, Level II Trauma Center, Level III Trauma Center, Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, and Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, each with specific criteria that must be met by a facility seeking that level of verification.
The ACS Committee on Trauma’s verification program does not designate trauma centers. Rather, the program provides confirmation that a trauma center has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality trauma care for all injured patients. The actual establishment and designation of trauma centers is the function of local, regional, or state healthcare systems agencies, such as the local emergency medical services (EMS) authority.
