Financial strategies and outcomes management in trauma care: current status and predictions for the future

In the competitive health care market of the 1990s, trauma centers face a multitude of fiscal challenges that threaten their survival. Trauma centers are confronted with the tremendous task of balancing the cost of caring for the patient with multiple trauma who requires resource-intensive care with the most fiscally responsible outcomes. Academic medical centers and residency training programs are faced with an even greater burden associated with controlling cost while providing learning experiences for physicians and nurses. Outcomes management represents the future strategy that trauma centers nationwide must embrace. Outcomes management gives trauma centers the opportunity to demonstrate their contribution to the community and society through improved patient and systems outcomes.