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Houston Matters

Does Houston Have Enough Level 1 Trauma Centers to Handle a Major Crisis?

Despite more than 250 layoffs, and a new policy limiting the patients Ben Taub General Hospital can handle it its ICU, Harris Health System is operating at a $14 million deficit this year. The reductions in service threaten Ben Taub’s long-term Level 1 trauma center designation. Ben Taub is one of just three such trauma […]

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Despite more than 250 layoffs, and a new policy limiting the patients Ben Taub General Hospital can handle it its ICU, Harris Health System is operating at a $14 million deficit this year. The reductions in service threaten Ben Taub’s long-term Level 1 trauma center designation.

Ben Taub is one of just three such trauma centers in the region. (The others are Memorial Hermann at the Texas Medical Center, and UTMB in Galveston). The American College of Surgeons says that’s not enough to serve Greater Houston’s large and growing population.

We discuss the role such trauma centers play, whether we need more of them, and what impediments may exist to add more in Greater Houston.

Michael Hagerty

Michael Hagerty

Senior Producer, Houston Matters

Michael Hagerty is the senior producer for Houston Matters. He's spent more than 20 years in public radio and television and dabbled in minor league baseball, spending four seasons as the public address announcer for the Reno Aces, the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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