Impact of American College of Surgeons trauma verification on statewide collaborative outcomes

American College of Surgeons (ACS) trauma center verification has demonstrated improved outcomes at individual centers, but its impact on statewide Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) Collaboratives is unknown. A statewide TQIP Collaborative, founded in 2011, noted underperformance in six of eight patient cohorts identified in the TQIP Collaborative report. We hypothesized that requiring ACS verification for level I and II trauma centers would result in improved outcomes for the state collaborative.

The ACS verification requirement was tied to ongoing Trauma Commission funding. Trauma centers were required to apply for an ACS consultative visit by 2017 and were given until 2023 to achieve ACS verification. The effect of this intervention was measured in the number of centers achieving verification and in the performance of the TQIP Collaborative semiannual reports.

In 2015, only 1 of 15 (7%) trauma centers were ACS verified, and 4 had undergone consultative visits. By 2023, 11 of 12 (92%) trauma centers achieved ACS verification. Following this intervention, the observed-to-expected odds ratio for all-patient morbidity and mortality improved from 1.60 to 1.17, and variation among patient-specific cohorts narrowed from 0.97-1.82 to 0.96-1.48 (Figure 2). Performance in all six underperforming patient-specific cohorts improved over the study period.

ACS verification for level I and II trauma centers improves TQIP Collaborative performance. Statewide Collaboratives should consider ACS verification as a requirement for participation.

Economic and Value-Based Evaluations; Level III.