Trauma care is wise expense, doctors say

ATLANTA --- Spending as much as $100 million to create a network of specialized trauma-care hospitals would not only pay for itself but also help the state financially, according to an analysis by the Medical Association of Georgia.

The report, prepared by a team of physicians, predicts the state would receive an annual 18 percent return on its investment in enhanced emergency care.

"It is vital to view such spending as an investment with substantial long-term returns rather than as a pure expense," the authors wrote. "The long-term economic benefits of effectively restoring the younger population to productivity are clear; by regaining years that potentially would have been lost, these individuals subsequently make great societal contributions and provide the state with a worthwhile return on its initial investment."

The authors assumed a trauma-care network would lower the rate of accidental deaths by 14 percent, which is the difference in Georgia's current rate compared with states with a trauma network.

The authors then added the number of people disabled by accidents. Next, they used tax data to estimate the average annual wages of working-age victims had they survived or not been injured.

Legislative leaders have tried to pass a funding plan for a trauma-care network. Their ideas have included raising fees on car tags and cell phones to generate about $80 million annually. So far, no steady funding mechanism has passed the House and Senate, although a one-time $58 million appropriation did pass.

Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, said during a forum this fall that a funding mechanism would be difficult to pass in 2009 also.

"On most of the examples given to you today ... there were two words beside each of the bullets, and those words were 'tax increase,' and that's going to be a very difficult sell regardless of the merits of the argument for which you're making the case," he said.

Marshall Guest, the spokesman for House Speaker Glenn Richardson, said Friday that trauma care remains a top priority.

House leaders have an idea they're not ready to announce, said Rep. Ron Stephens, the chairman of the House Economic Development Committee.

"We are going to pass something (next) year, even in this massive recession we're in," he said.