Montana Code Annotated
Part 4. State Trauma Care System
50-6-401. Definitions

50-6-401. Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Department" means the department of public health and human services provided for in Title 2, chapter 15, part 22.
(2) "Emergency medical service" means an emergency medical service as defined by 50-6-302.
(3) "Health care facility" or "facility" means a hospital, critical access hospital, or medical assistance facility as defined in 50-5-101.
(4) "Hospital trauma register" means patient-specific trauma data that is maintained by a health care facility, in a format prescribed by department rule, and that has the primary purpose of facilitating peer review and quality improvement at the health care facility.
(5) "Quality improvement" means the process of defining trauma care system performance standards, collecting data against which the standards may be applied, using the data to determine compliance with the standards, and using the data and compliance information in a nonpunitive manner, including peer review, that will continuously improve performance and facilitate compliance with the standards.
(6) "State trauma register" means trauma data relating to a specific patient or health care facility that is maintained by the department in an electronic format and that has the primary purpose of facilitating peer review and quality improvement for a health care facility or a trauma care system.
(7) "Trauma" means a severe, abrupt injury to the human body that is caused by mechanical, environmental, thermal, or other physical force.
(8) "Trauma care committee" means the trauma care committee created in 2-15-2216.
(9) "Trauma care system" means a state or regional system for the prevention of trauma and the provision of optimal medical care to trauma victims that includes both provision of appropriate health care services and provision of emergency medical care, equipment, and personnel for effective and coordinated prehospital, hospital, interhospital, and rehabilitative care for trauma patients.
(10) "Trauma facility" means a health care facility designated by the department pursuant to 50-6-410 as providing a specialized program in trauma care with appropriately trained personnel, equipment, and other facility resources that are specifically organized to provide optimal care to a trauma patient at the facility.
(11) "Trauma region" means a geographic area, designated by department rule pursuant to 50-6-402, within which trauma services are coordinated and evaluated through a regional trauma care system.
History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 579, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 171, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 192, L. 2001.

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