Welcome to the Mississippi Trauma Care System’s home page

The primary goal of the Mississippi Trauma System Care Program is “to provide the architecture for a trauma system which will decrease morbidity and mortality from traumatic injury.”

Development of trauma care systems throughout the United States became a renewed focus of attention with passage of the Trauma Care Systems Planning and Development Act of 1990.

The conception of the program began here with the 1991 Mississippi legislative session where laws were written to designate the Division of Emergency Medical Services (DEMS), Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), as the lead agency in the development of a trauma care plan for the state.

State FY 2002 marks a milestone in the development of the Mississippi Trauma Care System. The State Care Plan for the program was written and approved with implementation in October of last year.

To date, each hospital participating in the Mississippi Trauma System is actively collecting trauma data and submitting it to Office of Emergency Planning and Response (OEPR). This data provides a stable foundation for the development of the Mississippi Trauma System.

In 1997, the Mississippi Legislature established a 17-member Trauma Care Task Force (TCTF) to review the status of trauma and its impact on the public’s health. The recommendations of the TCTF were compiled into a report presented to the Governor and Legislature on December 15, 1997. The report was used as a guideline for drafting and subsequent passage of House Bill 966, “an act relating to a statewide Trauma Care System”.

Based on the TCTF report, the 1998 Legislature passed legislation (HB 966) giving MSDH-DEMS the authority to develop a statewide trauma care system. This legislation also established a permanent funding source through a $5 assessment on all moving traffic violations, creating the Trauma Care Trust Fund. This money is available for administrative functions at both the state and regional levels. The legislation also expanded the Mississippi Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council to include trauma professionals, which make up the Mississippi Trauma Advisory Committee (MTAC).

The Mississippi Trauma Advisory Committee (MTAC) was developed as a subcommittee of the EMS Advisory Committee. In 1998, they developed the Mississippi Trauma Care Regulations and subsequently were adopted by the State Board of Health.

The Mississippi Trauma Care Systems:
Designated Trauma Care Providers Working together to prevent and treat trauma.