As Nashville General Hospital embarks on a new fiscal year, it will be pursuing a new project to strengthen its emergency room services to become a level-two trauma center.
The long-struggling public hospital has been trying to turn itself around financially. General has traditionally had a disproportionate share of charity and TennCare patients, consistently leaving it with huge losses that have to be subsidized by Metro taxpayers.
Hospital Authority CEO Reginald Coopwood says Nashville General has a couple of reasons to take more trauma cases, including a historical one, since it used to be the main trauma center for the city.
“One, we want to get back to providing that level of care for the community that we once so proudly did. Two, as the Nashville continues to grow, you will ultimately have need of more trauma centers in our community.”
Nashville General’s emergency room is currently unaccredited but has the capability of a level-3 trauma center, which handles minor injuries. Level-one trauma centers handle life-threatening cases. Vanderbilt University’s adult and children’s trauma centers are the only level-1 emergency rooms in Middle Tennessee.
Coopwood estimates the process will take about two years to complete. He says the hospital won’t have to add physical space, but will have to add staffing and equipment. Coopwood says they don’t know yet how much that will cost.
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