The General Assembly has approved $450,000 in funding to allow between three and five hospitals to participate in a traumatic brain injury pilot program.
However, it could take months to determine which hospitals will participate.
The legislature committed $150,000 to the program in the 2017-18 state budget, and $300,000 in the 2018-19 state budget. The funding goes to the N.C. Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse.
Changes to the program’s legislation are contained within Senate Bill 582, a technical corrections bill that passed the legislature Thursday.
Unrelated legislation in SB2 — in particular Republican-sponsored changes to the authorized duties of the state attorney general — may prompt a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
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“The purpose of the pilot program is to increase compliance with internationally approved, evidence-based treatment guidelines for severe adult and pediatric traumatic brain injury in order to reduce patient mortality, improve patient level of recovery, and reduce long-term care costs,” according to SB582.
The program would provide care for adults and youths, so it may be possible that Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and affiliate Brenner’s Children Hospital combine on an application or file separate applications.
The language in SB582 raises the number of potential participants from three to as many as five.
However, legislators stripped a commitment of $100,000 in additional funding for each participating hospital.
“There has been no determination on participating hospitals,” said Cobey Culton, a spokesperson with N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
“DHHS anticipates issuing a request for applications that incorporates the changes outlined in SB582,” Culton said.
Dr. Jason Hoth, director of the adult trauma center at Wake Forest Baptist, said that “as the region’s only Level 1 trauma center, we would be very interested in participating in a program like this.”
“We look forward to learning more about it as the information becomes available.”
Cone Health spokesman Doug Allred said Moses Cone Hospital would be interested in applying.
An independent entity would receive a state contract to assist the participating hospitals with setting up the designated services and quality assurance measurements.
DHHS would be required to provide a joint legislative oversight health care committee with a final report on the program’s rollout by Jan. 7, 2019.
“In North Carolina, we have some of the best and finest trauma centers in the nation,” said Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, and former president of N.C. Baptist Hospital.
“Allowing them to create a pilot program to improve the quality of care, while looking to reduce cost, is a good way to determine best practices that may help other provider sites.”
Legislators left alone language in the state budget that committed $2.37 million in recurring annual funds to be used exclusively for traumatic brain injury services.
The Brain Injury Association of N.C., Carolinas Rehabilitation, receives $359,218 in funding to assist families with continuum of care.
The remaining $2.01 million goes to support residential programs statewide that care for individuals with traumatic brain injury, as well as individuals who need financial assistance with transportation, home modifications and other requests deemed necessary by their local behavioral health managed care organization.