FEDERAL | House passes Trauma Care measure

ASPS works closely with the Trauma Coalition, led by the Trauma Center Association of America and American College of Surgeons, which successfully advanced the Military Injury Surgical Systems Integrated Operationally Nationwide to Achieve ZERO Preventable Deaths (MISSION ZERO) Act in February. Mission Zero allows military trauma care providers and trauma teams to provide care within civilian trauma centers. Systematically translating military trauma care into the civilian sector would allow military trauma providers and teams to practice skills prior to deployment and/or maintain skills after returning home from service.

Within a 2016 report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the National Academies recommended the implementation of a system redesign that would provide military personnel with real world training and experience at civilian trauma centers. As reported by the National Academies, this training has the dual benefit of maintaining military surgical battle readiness between wars while at the same time improving civilian access to trauma care.

The House of Representatives completed consideration of the Mission Zero Act via voice vote, with Reps. Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX-26), Gene Green (D-TX-29) and Kathy Castor (D-FL-14) all speaking in favor of the measure. The bill now awaits further consideration by the Senate.