Texas trauma facilities benefit from surcharges

Texas motorists have paid approximately $275 million of the more than $850 million in surcharges the state has billed since the program began. Money from surcharges for traffic fines paid under the program goes into a fund that helps pay for trauma care statewide, although the fees have generated less than lawmakers initially projected.

"Seventy percent of those eligible for the program are not complying by not paying the surcharge," said Mange.

Failure to pay these surcharges results in suspension of violators' driver's licenses.

A Legislative Budget Board (LBB) report released in January reveals that between September 2004 and August 2006, 1.5 million notices to drivers who were ticketed for violations were sent out, assessing $478.7 million worth of surcharges. During this period, the state collected $132.8 million.

Dallas area trauma facilities have received a high percentage of funds distributed from the program because they have two Level I trauma facilities and one Level II trauma facility, said Dinah S. Welsh (previous page, left), Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the Texas Hospital Association.

Parkland Health and Hospital System and Baylor University Medical Center are both Level 1 Trauma facilities, and Methodist Dallas Medical Center is a Level II trauma facility, Welsh said. "Most of the [program] funds are sent to the highest level of designated trauma centers - Level I's, followed by II's, III's and IV's."

Trauma facility levels are gauged by whether they are affiliated with an educational or research institution and how comprehensive the care offered is. Texas has 13 Level I facilities, which provide treatment for every trauma-related issue. Texas' nine Level II centers provide as much comprehensive care as a Level I, but aren't often associated with a research body. The state's 41 Level III facilities are even less comprehensive - but still considered "advanced" - and the 180 Level IV Texas hospitals are "good at stabilizing a patient and transferring them to a higher level of care," Welsh said.

According to the LBB, Texas' top 10 counties with suspended licenses under the Driver Responsibility Program are Dallas with 101,507; Bexar with 47,909; Tarrant with 45,871; El Paso with 41,152; Travis with 31,562; Harris with 23,293; Hidalgo with 21,413; Denton with 15,082; Collin with 13,533; and Galveston with 11,460.

Though the program hasn't been as lucrative as originally anticipated, the funds have been helpful to hospitals such as Parkland that provide much uncompensated care to trauma victims.

"The program by no means pays for uncompensated care, but it helps recognize that cost and encourages hospitals to take on more trauma patients," Welsh said.