Resolution passed supporting designated trauma center at Centennial Hills Hospital

The Las Vegas City Council narrowly passed a resolution Wednesday supporting the addition of a designated trauma center at Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center, drawing criticism from the company that operates the other applicant hospitals.

Centennial Hills, part of the Valley Health System, is one of three applicants being considered for designation as a Level 3 trauma center by the Southern Nevada Health District Board of Health, which meets March 24.

The hospital declined to comment on the resolution.

MountainView Hospital and Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center, owned by the Hospital Corporation of America, are the other two applicants. Level 3 is the lowest level of designated trauma center recognized by the Southern Nevada Trauma System.

The only Level 3 facility in Southern Nevada is St. Rose Dominican Hospital - Siena. Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center is the sole Level 2 facility and UMC functions as the only Level 1.

Though the City Council isn’t involved in designations, Councilman Bob Beers, who leads the Board of Health, brought the resolution before the council for a vote of symbolic support. The Board of Health could choose to approve all, some or none of the applicants.

Support from city and county governments is one factor that the American College of Surgeons suggests taking into account when deciding on trauma center designations.

At a meeting Feb. 24, the Regional Trauma Advisory Board, which makes a recommendation to the Board of Health on trauma center applications, voted not to support the three applications and instead suggested the creation of a committee that could routinely review the need for new trauma centers.

HCA said it formally raised questions before the Feb. 24 meeting of a “potential for bias and conflicts of interest” among the trauma board’s standing members, most of whom are representatives of existing trauma centers.

HCA responded to the City Council resolution by pointing to numbers suggesting there are more Level 3 patients in the ZIP codes around MountainView than in those surrounding Centennial Hills. The health district had not independently confirmed those numbers as of the trauma board meeting.

“Given that the ‘medical need’ for access to a Level 3 Trauma Center for Northwest Las Vegas has been soundly established through undisputed data, we are surprised that one councilman would put his own self-interest above those of his constituents on such a critical issue,” the company said in a statement, apparently referencing comments during the meeting made by Councilman Bob Coffin.

During the meeting, Coffin said he was treated at one of the applicant hospitals last year after a vehicle crash and could not support the addition of a Level 3 center at that facility, which he later confirmed to be MountainView.

When the language of the original resolution, which supported a hospital in the north/northwest area, was changed to name Centennial Hills specifically, he supported it in a 4-3 council vote.

He called the vote for Centennial Hills common sense, based on the area’s population growth, and was upset by HCA’s comments, saying it was clear during his stay at MountainView that the hospital “didn’t have enough doctors on staff.”

“It takes a lot of guts to call me out when I laid in that hospital for seven hours without seeing a doctor,” he said.

Coffin emphasized that he doesn’t have any connections to Centennial Hills.

“I have no idea how Centennial treats people. It certainly couldn’t be any worse than MountainView,” he said.

Contact Pashtana Usufzy at pusufzy@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Find her on Twitter: @Pashtana_U