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 centers […]

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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.

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