§321-230  Technical assistance, datacollection, evaluation.  (a)  The department may contract for technicalassistance and consultation, including but not limited to categorization, datacollection, and evaluation appropriate to the needs of the state system.  Thecollection and analysis of statewide emergency medical services data, includingpediatrics, trauma, cardiac, medical, and behavioral medical emergencies, shallbe for the purpose of improving the quality of services provided.

The department may implement and maintain atrauma registry for the collection of information concerning the treatment ofcritical trauma patients at state designated trauma centers, and carry out asystem for the management of that information.  The system may provide for therecording of information concerning treatment received before and after atrauma patient's admission to a hospital or medical center.  All statedesignated trauma centers shall submit to the department of health periodicreports of each patient treated for trauma in the state system in such manneras the department shall specify.

For the purposes of this subsection,"categorization" means systematic identification of the readiness andcapabilities of hospitals and their staffs to adequately, expeditiously, andefficiently receive and treat emergency patients.

(b)  The department shall establish,administer, and maintain an aeromedical emergency medical services systemdesigned to collect and analyze data to measure the efficiency andeffectiveness of each phase of an emergency aeromedical program.

The aeromedical emergency medical servicessystem shall serve the emergency health needs of the people of the State byidentifying:

(1)  The system's strengths and weaknesses;

(2)  The allocation of resources; and

(3)  The development of rotary-wing emergencyaeromedical services standards;

provided that emergency helicopter use, includingtriage protocols, shall be based on national aeromedical triage and transportguidelines established by the Association of Air Medical Services, the AmericanCollege of Surgeons and the National Association of Emergency Medical ServicePhysicians.  The department, in the implementation of this subsection, shallplan, coordinate, and provide assistance to all entities and agencies, publicand private, involved in the system.

(c)  The department shall use an emergencyaeromedical services quality improvement committee comprised of representativesof trauma, emergency, and tertiary care physicians and providers to analyzeinformation collected from the aeromedical quality improvement performancemeasures as established by the American College of Surgeons, and to recommendsystem standards and resources to maintain and improve the Hawaii emergencyaeromedical services system. [L 1978, c 148, pt of §1; am L 1980, c 285, §4; amL 1981, c 93, §6; am L 1994, c 242, §5; am L 2002, c 150, §1; am L Sp 2003, c2, §4]