Hudson's Bipartisan Bill to Boost Trauma Care with Military Partnership Headed to POTUS' Desk
June 5, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 5, 2019
Hudson’s Bipartisan Bill to Boost Trauma Care with Military Partnership Headed to POTUS’ Desk
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-08), Fort Bragg’s Congressman, released the following statement after Congress passed S. 1379, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (PAHPA) which includes his bipartisan MISSION ZERO Actto assist assigning Department of Defense (DoD) trauma surgeons to civilian trauma centers, filling a gap in care observed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine:
“This bill will benefit patients at trauma centers across the country who will have better access to highly-skilled, experienced military trauma teams,” said Rep. Hudson. “By the same token, it will ensure military medical professionals remain sharp. I am proud to help lead this bipartisan effort to strengthen our nation’s trauma care and save more lives on and off the battlefield, and I look forward to President Trump signing this bipartisan bill into law.”
The MISSION ZERO Act is supported by trauma centers nation-wide, including Duke Trauma Center.
"Duke has numerous collaborations with military trauma teams including being the civilian lead for the Surgical Critical Care Initiative, a partnership that helps develop decision support tools to aid in the care of injured service men and women and civilian trauma victims. This bill will strengthen how we can partner with military trauma teams and train alongside each other to care for all patients in need," said Dr. Allan Kirk, Chair of the Duke Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Duke University Health System.
Currently, trauma care in the United States is a patchwork of regional systems and incomplete data registries. Mortality and disability in traumatic injury can be greatly reduced through integrated, permanent joint civilian and military trauma system training platforms, in order to create and sustain an expert trauma workforce between periods of active combat.
The MISSION ZERO Act would also establish grant programs for eligible trauma systems and centers to incorporate full military trauma teams or individual military trauma providers into their hospitals. This mutually beneficial partnership would allow civilians the chance to learn more about military best practices and would give military trauma care providers the opportunity to utilize their cutting-edge expertise without leaving the military.
The MISSION ZERO Act is endorsed by the American Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Surgeons, and the Trauma Center Association of America.
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