Planned budget could impact trauma plans

ct plans for the Wrangell Medical Center’s trauma center.

According to the most recent figures provided by the Legislative Finance Division, the governor’s proposed budget would reduce a state contribution to the Alaska Trauma Care Fund from $1 million to nothing. The fund distributes money to hospitals which pursue and obtain various trauma designations as obtained by state statute. Designated Level IV facilities – which the Wrangell Medical Center is presently seeking through a combination of equipment purchases and personnel certifications – are eligible for an annual payment of $100,000, according to the Trauma System Development Application.

Wrangell Medical Center officials said they would consider the budget’s impact on their pursuit of the application once a clearer budget picture emerged.

The flow of money into the fund has been sporadic in the past, state officials said. In 2011, the state paid $2.5 million into the fund, and didn’t add additional funds until 2013, when the legislature added an additional $2 million, said State Rep. Peggy Wilson. Last year, the budget allotted $1 million for the fund, which was cut to zero again this year, according to the Legislative Finance Division.

Despite the varying levels of funding year-to-year, legislators had intended to provide new funds each year, Wilson said.

“It was intended originally to be funded every year,” she said.

She expressed tentative support for an amendment she said would be offered by state Sen. John Coghill (R – North Pole). The amendment diverts cigarette tax money from the general fund to fund a $1-million contribution to the fund, Wilson said.

“Actually, it’s pretty good,” she said. “He’s used designated funds. He’s taking the money from the smoking cessation tobacco tax money. That’s a good place for it to go. At least it’s going for at least some kind of medical money.”

The fund balance is presently $1.6 million, all of which is allotted for existing trauma center applications, said Sharon Leighow, spokesperson for Gov. Sean Parnell. The fund wasn’t intended to be an annual expenditure, Leighow wrote in an e-mail to the Sentinel.

“The trauma care fund is not an ‘annual’ appropriation item,” she said. “We (the governor’s office) did not include a request for additional funds in fiscal year 2015.”

In the meantime, the National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine, one of a series of reports which triggered the 2010 creation of the Trauma Care Fund through the passage of House Bill 168, has amended the dismal rating which led to the fund’s creation. While Alaska has improved its Disaster Preparedness grade from an F to a C, the 2014 edition of the report downgrades the state from a C- to an F in the “Access to Emergency Care” category.