Trauma Registry Improvement Project

We will post updates as we receive them.

Injury and EMS/Trauma Registry Group
Important News and Updates

10/7/10 TENTATIVE AWARD NOTICE: The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announces a tentative contract award for a Trauma Registry Improvement System to Consilience Software. A full award is contingent upon the successful negotiations and execution of a contract. In the event negotiations are unsuccessful, DSHS may initiate negotiations with the next successful vendor or vendors.

Update: Week of July 27, 2010

A Request for Offers (RFO) for the Trauma Registry Improvement System was posted by the Health and Human Services Commission Enterprise Contract and Procurement Services (ECPS) on the Electronic State Business Daily on May 10, 2010. The closing date was June 9, 2010, and two proposals were received. The future Trauma Registry is a key asset for DSHS and the Trauma Registry stakeholders. The future Trauma Registry allows the Registry to address issues, such as, the changing landscape relative to the new Health Information Technology/Health Information Exchange opportunities.

Overall, DSHS wants to ensure that the Trauma Registry stakeholders and DSHS have a Registry solution that provides the best value and addresses the needs of Texans.

As such, due to the low number of responses to the RFO that closed on June 9, 2010, coupled with the desire to provide a robust Registry solution that meets the changing landscape of health and health care, DSHS has decided to issue a new RFO.

A new RFO was issued on July 27, 2010 and will close on August 20, 2010 at 3:00 PM.

DSHS encourages all potential bidders, including those that bid on the first Trauma Registry RFO, to respond to this RFO. DSHS is excited about the future Registry solution and looks forward to reviewing the proposals.

Here is the link to the new RFO: http://esbd.cpa.state.tx.us/bid_show.cfm?bidid=90263

The Texas EMS/Trauma Registry (herein referred to as the “Registry”) is a legislatively mandated program within the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Prevention and Preparedness Division, Environmental Epidemiology and Disease Registries Section, that is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information on EMS incidents, trauma and the occurrence of reportable injuries in Texas. (Chapters 92 and 773.113 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, require healthcare facilities and EMS providers to submit data to DSHS). These data are also to be used in allocating funds to trauma care systems and as a tool for system and trauma care improvement in Texas.

The existing Registry is outdated, does not comply with either the NEMSIS or NTDB standards and inadequately serves stakeholder needs. As such, DSHS, funding partners (TXDOT), and other external stakeholders/users have concluded that the current Registry needs to be replaced.

The Trauma Registry Improvement System Assessment (TRISA) Project was the first step towards replacing the current Registry. An outside vendor was hired to conduct a system assessment which included an assessment of stakeholder needs, best practices in other states, and what alternatives are available. The TRISA Final Report includes system requirements for the future registry application based on business and data requirements, stakeholders’ needs and expectations, funding partner requirements. The report also includes an evaluation of alternatives and estimated associated costs to DSHS for consideration. The final report, which has been posted on the DSHS website since early October, concluded that the best solution would either be a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product offered as one product that integrates EMS and trauma data collection, or a “best of breed” solution that combines the best EMS product and the best trauma product.

To obtain stakeholder input and guidance on the acquisition, implementation, and maintenance of a new system DSHS formed the EMS/Trauma Registry Solutions Work Group (RSWG). In October, stakeholders were invited to apply to be part of the RSWG and 14 stakeholder’s applications were received; all 14 were appointed to the group. The RSWG met in November to review the workgroups charge and the project timeline; they also began reviewing the business and functional requirements that will be included in the Request for Offer (RFO) for the new system. The RSWG has had two conference calls in January and is continuing the process of reviewing the requirements for the new system. After considering the recommendations in the MTG report, the consensus of the RSWG, DSHS program and IT staff, and executive leadership at DSHS is that the preferred solution would be a COTS product that integrated both EMS and trauma data collection in one system. The RSWG also will provide guidance in establishing criteria for the selection of a vendor (e.g., years of operation, experience in large states, etc.).

A draft RFO is being prepared to be submitted to the DSHS legal division for approval. Once approved, the draft RFO will be published on the DSHS website (for one week) for public comment. Comments will be addressed and the RFO will be finalized and posted on the Texas Daily Register for 30 days. It is anticipated that that the RFO will be completed and posted by the end of March. Applications/bids will be received and evaluated and a vendor will be selected in April or May. A contract should be negotiated in early summer (June or July) after which the actual implementation of the new registry will begin. The implementation schedule will not be known until a vendor is selected, a contract is in place, and a vendor work plan is provided

Currently, the project manager is working to obtain all the state procedural approvals needed to procure the new system. It is currently the intent of DSHS to migrate the existing data into the new system.

The total estimated cost to replace the EMS/Trauma Registry is $3,280,046. DSHS has a three year grant from TXDOT ($1,736,046) and is committed to contributing $1,544,000 of DSHS funds over the next three years.

Members of Registry Solutions Work Group
Trey Crowdus Project Manager
Stakeholder Reps:
Robert Folden EMS rep. from Commerce, Health Data Informatics Specialist
Mary Frost Hospital rep. from Houston
Sandra Garcia Hospital rep. from Dallas
Nita Gallegos Hospital rep. from McAllen
Deborah Hutton Hospital rep. from San Antonio
Ryan Matthews EMS and GETAC rep. from Wichita Falls
Tammy Morgan Hospital and TETAF rep. from Dallas
Paul Nelson EMS rep. from Houston
Andrew Petty EMS rep. from Tyler
Jan Price TETAF and AAAM member
Rohit Shenoi Hospital rep. from Houston, Trauma Researcher
Louise Thornell Hospital rep. from Texarkana
Marti Van Ravenswaay GETAC and county EMS rep. from Fort Worth
Bettie Beckworth Office of Acquired Brain Injury, HHSC
DSHS Reps:
Linda Jones Manager, Injury and EMS/Trauma Registry Group
John Villanacci Director, Environmental and Injury Epidemiology and Toxicology Unit
Jane Guerrero Director, Office of EMS and Trauma Services Coordination
Kathy Peticolas DSHS Business Analyst and IT Liaison
Remmy Morris Clinical Specialist – DSHS Cardiovascular Health and Wellness Program
Evie Walberg Director, Applications Development, DSHS IT
Chris Guerrero Special Projects, DSHS IT
Sam Sinclair Traffic Safety, Project Manager, TXDOT

Update: Week of October 5, 2009

Staff interviewed and selected a Project Manager for the next phase of the Trauma Registry System Improvement Project. It is our intention to have the new Project Manager start on or before the first week of November.

The final report on the EMS/Trauma Registry System Assessment from MTG is posted on our website (www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury) with an email box for questions and comments.

DSHS will hold a special session at the GETAC November conference (Monday, November 23, 2009, from 11:00 – 12:30; location to be announced) to discuss the MTG report findings and to answer questions that you may have about the next steps in the project. Representatives from MTG will be available to answer questions pertaining to the assessment methods or the report recommendations.

Once the Project Manager is on board we will begin the process of reviewing the report recommendations to select the conceptual solution to be pursued. An EMS/Trauma Registry Solutions Work Group (RSWG) is being formed for this purpose and stakeholder participation was requested. We received a good response from stakeholders and will be announcing the workgroup members before the end of October.

Update: Week of September 28, 2009

The final report on the EMS/Trauma Registry System Assessment from MTG is now posted on our website (www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury) and an email address has been provided for questions and comments about the report.

DSHS will hold a special session at the GETAC November conference (Monday, November 23, 2009, from 11-12:30; location to be announced) regarding the report findings and to answer questions about the next steps. A representative from MTG will attend to answer any questions about the assessment methods or recommendations.

Applications for the project manager position for the next phase have been received and are currently undergoing review by agency personnel. Interviews for the position will begin on October 7, 2009.

The next task will be to review the report recommendations and choose the conceptual solution to be pursued. An EMS/Trauma Registry Solutions Work Group (RSWG) is being formed for this purpose and stakeholder participation is needed.

The RSWG will include representative(s) from DSHS executive leadership, the Environmental & Injury Epidemiology and Toxicology Unit, the Office of EMS and Trauma Services Coordination, the Texas Department of Transportation, the DSHS Information Technology Section, the Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council, the Project Manager, and 4-5 representatives from the stakeholder community ( EMS and hospital providers from both urban and rural areas).

Responsibilities of RSWG members include:

• To represent (in as fair a manner as possible) the members of the group that you have been appointed to represent;
• To respond in a timely manner to email communications when requested to do so;
• To participate in deciding the conceptual solution to be pursued in the replacement of the Registry;
• To assist DSHS prepare the Registry requirements for an RFO (request for offer);
• To advise DSHS during the implementation and transition phases of installing a new Registry;
• To apply your objective expertise in guiding DSHS in the selection and implementation of the best possible solution for an EMS/Trauma Registry that will serve the State of Texas.

If you are interested in being on the workgroup please fill out the application posted at: www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury. Applications must be received by close of business on October 15, 2009. The applications will be reviewed and the RSWG stakeholder representatives will be appointed before the end of October.

Update: Week of September 21, 2009

The final report on the EMS/Trauma Registry System Assessment from MTG is due on September 30 th and most likely will be posted on our website by the time you read this message (www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury). An email box has been set up to receive questions and comments about the report.

DSHS will hold a special session at the GETAC November conference (Monday, November 23, 2009, from 11-12:30; location to be announced) regarding the report findings and to answer questions about the next steps. A representative from MTG will attend to answer any questions about the assessment methods or recommendations.

The next step in the process is to review the report recommendations and choose the conceptual solution to be pursued. An EMS/Trauma Registry Solutions Work Group (RSWG) is being formed for this purpose and stakeholder participation is requested.

The RSWG will include representative(s) from DSHS executive leadership, the Environmental & Injury Epidemiology and Toxicology Unit, the Office of EMS and Trauma Services Coordination, the Texas Department of Transportation, the DSHS Information Technology Section, the Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council, the Project Manager, and 4-5 representatives from the stakeholder community ( EMS and hospital providers from both urban and rural areas).

Responsibilities of RSWG members include:

• To represent (in as fair a manner as possible) the members of the group that you have been appointed to represent;
• To timely respond to email communications when requested to do so;
• To participate in deciding the conceptual solution to be pursued in the replacement of the Registry;
• To assist DSHS in preparing Registry requirements for an RFO (request for offer);
• To advise DSHS during the implementation and transition phases of installing a new Registry;
• To apply your objective expertise in guiding DSHS in the selection and implementation of the best possible solution for an EMS/Trauma Registry that will serve the State of Texas.

If you are interested in being on the workgroup please fill out the application that has been posted at: www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury. Applications must be received by close of business on October 15, 2009. DSHS representatives will review the applications and appoint RSWG stakeholder representatives before the end of October.

Update: Week of August 24, 2009

As MTG prepares their report describing user needs and options for replacing the current EMS/Trauma Registry, DSHS staff has started preparing for phase two of the project. Phase two includes developing a request for offers to procure a vendor for implementing the new system. A notice has been posted with DIR (the state’s Department of Information Resources) for a project manager to oversee this next phase. We anticipate that a project manager will be in place the first week of October, 2009.

At the recent GETAC meeting, Dr. Adolpho Valadez, Assistant Commissioner for Prevention and Preparedness reported that the Registry has received notice of an additional $1.2 million of funding from TXDOT and that those funds will be supplemented with additional funds provided by the Department. Dr. Valadez also reiterated DSHS’s commitment to the project to replace the existing registry.

MTG’s final report, outlining the best alternative solutions, will be available on our website in early October. We recommend that you check the website often for new reports and other information; we recently added a report on “TBI Hospitalizations from 2004-2007” http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury/data/Texas%20TBI%20Hospital.pdf

A number of the reports available through the current Registry have been fixed and are now available for your use. We would appreciate any feedback that you can provide with respect to these reports as well as other reports that you would like to see included. You can provide feedback at: https://emstrauma.questionpro.com/.

Update: Week of August 17, 2009

The Map and Report vendor, MTG Management Consultants, has completed the stakeholder requirement meetings and surveys. Over 200 EMS and hospital representatives attended the meetings and provided input and 163 individuals responded to the survey. Based on these efforts the top ten findings (combined EMS and Hospital were:

MTG has now received information about registries from 26 states. They visited Minnesota, Missouri, and Pennsylvania and interviewed Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Nebraska to gather in-depth information. The information gathered will be analyzed and recommendations will be provided based on stakeholder needs, best practices, and market trends. The final report is due September 30, 2009.

DSHS remains committed to replacing the existing registry with a commercial off-the-shelf software product operated outside DSHS. The Department is contributing $1.5 million of new money to the Registry and has received notice of additional funding of $1.2 million from TXDOT. Replacing the Registry is a DSHS priority.

Once DSHS receives the final report from MTG, a request for offer (RFO) soliciting bids for a new Registry will be developed and issued. The bids received will be evaluated and a vendor will be selected.

In other news, a link to a customer feedback form is now posted on the Injury and Txetra websites; we appreciate your feedback.

Update: Week of July 20, 2009

MTG Management Consultants is in the process of collecting information from other states. They have surveyed states within the U.S. to request information pertaining to their EMS/Trauma Registry applications; thus far, 27 states have responded. Based on the results, MTG has chosen 8 states to contact for further discussions. They have now visited Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Minnesota. In addition, MTG attended an Emergency Data Systems (EDS) conference in Lakeville Minnesota and where they had the opportunity to speak with representatives from Alaska, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Virginia, and Washington about their respective registries.

Update: Week of July 6, 2009

MTG has completed the stakeholder meetings with the final stakeholder meeting held on Monday here in Austin. Both the EMS and Hospital groups were well represented and actively participated in the meetings. We would like to offer a special thanks to all those who participated. Below is a list of the stakeholder facilitation sessions along with the number of participants:

MTG will be summarizing the feedback received during the meetings and will make this document available to stakeholders for final review and comment.

For the next step in the process, MTG will begin assessing other state registries through on site visits and surveys. MTG has provided the Program Project Manager with the plan for selecting and visiting other states. A survey was sent to all states on July 10, 2009 to confirm their registry information and support MTG’s final selection of states. MTG has tentatively scheduled to meet with Pennsylvania on July 16, 2009.

The final report from MTG is due to DSHS in September. The final report findings and recommendations will be shared with stakeholders and will be used to develop a Request for Proposal for a new EMS/Trauma Registry.

Other Registry Business

In response to customer concerns, DSHS will minimize the Trauma Registry system downtime by limiting routine maintenance to one weekend per month. The maintenance work should take less than the entire weekend. System users will be notified when maintenance is scheduled and when it has been completed and the system is available.

The following reports are now available in production.

EMS

EMS Cause of Injury by Age

1. EMS Cause of Injury by Month
2. EMS Cause of Injury by Quarter
3. EMS Cause of Injury by RAC/State Comparison
4. EMS Cause of Injury by Sex
5. EMS Cause of Injury by Age w/Percentages
6. EMS Cause of Injury by Month w/Percentages
7. EMS Cause of Injury by Quarter w/Percentages
8. EMS Cause of Injury by Sex w/Percentages
9. EMS Prehospital Intervention

Regional

Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Age

1. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Month
2. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Quarter
3. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by RAC/State Comparison
4. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Sex
5. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Age w/Percentages
6. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Month w/Percentages
7. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Quarter w/Percentages
8. Regional EMS Cause of Injury by Sex w/Percentages
9. Regional EMS Prehospital Intervention
10. Regional EMS Medical vs. Trauma by Age
11. Regional EMS Medical vs. Trauma by Month
12. Regional EMS Medical vs. Trauma by Quarter
13. Regional EMS Medical vs. Trauma by RAC/State Comparison
14. Regional EMS Medical vs. Trauma by Age w/Percentages
15. Regional EMS Medical vs. Trauma by Month w/Percentages
16. Regional EMS Medical vs. Trauma by Quarter w/Percentages
17. Regional Trauma Service Area Participation Report

Progress Report on DSHS TRISA Project (EMS/Trauma Registry Improvement System Assessment Project) And Other Registry Business

TRISA

MTG Management Consultants continue to meet with stakeholders around the state to gather requirements for a new EMS/trauma registry system. Attendance has averaged about twenty people in each location. Seven sessions have been conducted thus far. The Midland/Odessa meeting will be on July 6, the El Paso meeting will be on July 7, and the wrap-up meeting in Austin will be held on July 13 th. For details on the remaining meetings, refer to our website at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury/ .

To gather data on best practices, MTG also plans to visit two or three other states with EMS/trauma registry systems and conduct telephone surveys with several other states. These efforts reflect DSHS intentions to replace the current registry with a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) product, tailored to fit the needs of Texas. To ensure appropriate attention to the technical aspects of an ideal system, MTG Consultants may add if needed a technical session that includes DSHS IT and stakeholder experts.

TRAC-IT

We encourage you to take advantage of the current system reports that have been fixed:

Hospital Analysis Audit - Level III
Hospital Analysis Audit - Level IV
Response Time by Call Type
Response Time by EMS /RAC/ State Comparison
Response Time by Month
Response Time by Out of County
Response Time by Quarter
Medical vs. Trauma by Age Group
Medical vs. Trauma by Age Group w/Percentages
Medical vs. Trauma by EMS /RAC/ State Comparison
Medical vs. Trauma by Month
Medical vs. Trauma by Month w/Percentages
Medical vs. Trauma by Out Of County
Medical vs. Trauma by Out Of County w/Percentages
Medical vs. Trauma by Quarter
Medical vs. Trauma by Quarter w/Percentages

We are working on a customer feedback form that you can access on our website (before the end of July). In the meantime, please send any comments on these reports to Linda.jones@dshs.state.tx.us.

The major activities performed for week ending 6/05/09 are outlined below.

William Riippi, Maurice Samuels and Brent Meadows performed the initial registry requirements gathering sessions in Houston at the Woodlands Emergency Training Center on 6/1/09. The attendance for the two sessions was as follows:

While the attendance was a little less than anticipated, the individuals who participated were engaged in the meeting and provided valuable input. MTG is documenting the results and detailed analysis and information will be provided in the report deliverable. 

MTG received positive feedback on the process after the session. Additionally, the DSHS program received positive feedback. The one concern from Mr. David Rives, SouthEast Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council, was that the Houston Fire Department (HFD) did not attend because they are a big contributor and have a proprietary system. MTG will contact them and HFD has told David that they will attend the Austin Session on July 13.

The major lesson learned from the initial session is the need to reduce the apparent redundancy when reviewing the potential data requirements for EMS and Hospital stakeholders. Although the data fields are discrete, for the purposes of gathering requirements many can be combined. MTG has discussed this with DSHS and will make improvements for subsequent sessions.

William Riippi and Brent Meadows will be conducting the next session in Harlingen on 6/8/2009. Contact has been made with the facility to coordinate the meeting. San Antonio is scheduled for 6/12/2009.

Below is the status of the stakeholder facilitation sessions:

Houston – June 1 - COMPLETE

Harlingen - June 8 - PENDING

San Antonio - June 12 - PENDING

Tyler - June 15 - PENDING

Arlington – June 17 - PENDING

Temple – June 22 - PENDING

Lubbock – June 29 - PENDING

Midland/Odessa – July 6 - PENDING

El Paso - July 7 - PENDING

Austin – July 13 - PENDING

Other project work continues per the project plan.

EMS/Trauma Registry stakeholder meeting and reference materials
(June 4, 2009)

MTG Consultants held the first Stakeholder requirements meeting on June 1 st in Houston; the meetings will continue on schedule through June and July. The individuals who participated provided valuable input and advice on registry requirements. MTG will be documenting the results for inclusion in the final report.

For the meeting most convenient for you, please refer to our website at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury/.

Other Trauma Registry News – 2008 Data Submission Deadline Nears

The EMS allotment report and the data reflected in that report are important to the allotment process. To provide more time to submit your data and make any data changes the Registry, the Injury and EMS/Trauma Registry Group and the Office of EMS & Trauma Systems have extended the deadline for submission of 2008 data to June 30, 2009. 

As the extended deadline is a few weeks away, we encourage you to check your submissions. You can log onto the online EMS/Trauma Registry system at https://www.txetra.com/ and refer to the Submission Status screen to find out if your submissions are up-to-date. If a billing or data reporting agency or RAC is authorized to submit your data, please check to make sure the Registry has received your data.

Information about the Texas EMS/Trauma Registry can be found at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury, or contact Registry staff at (512) 458-7266.

MTG Consultants have finalized arrangements for the stakeholder requirements meetings. The meeting dates, locations, and links to directions are listed below. We encourage EMS providers, trauma service providers, and any other persons interested in contributing to the development of the Texas EMS/Trauma Registry to attend one of the meetings.

All EMS providers, trauma service providers, and any others interested in contributing to the development of the Texas EMS/Trauma Registry are encouraged to attend one of the meetings listed below. In general, MTG will meet with EMS providers in the mornings from 8am-12pm and with hospital providers in the afternoons from 1pm-5pm, at each location.

The last meeting will be held in Austin from 1pm-5pm and is open to providers who missed a regional meeting or others who are not EMS or hospital providers but who have an interest in the future Registry.

Please refer to our website for handout materials as MTG will NOT be providing copies at the meetings – http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury/review.shtm

June 1 - Houston

The Woodlands Emergency Training Center
16135 IH-45 S, Conroe, TX 77385
(about 30 miles north of Houston)
936-321-2111
http://maps.google.Conroe

June 8 - Harlingen

Knapp Medical Center
Conference Center (next to hospital, by helicopter pad)
1401 East 8 th Street
Weslaco, 78596
956-969-5262
http://maps.google.Weslaco

June 12 - San Antonio     

Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC) Office
7500 US Hwy. 90
ATT Building , Suite 200
San Antonio , TX 78227
210-822-5379
http://maps.google.San Antonio

June 15 - Tyler

Holiday Inn Express
2421 ESE Loop 323
Tyler, TX 75701
http://maps.google.Tyler

June 17 - Arlington 

Grapevine Convention Center
Concord I
1209 South Main Street
Grapevine, Texas 76051
817-410-3541
http://maps.google.Grapvine

June 22 - Temple

Central Texas Council of Governments Building
2180 N. Main Street
Belton, TX
254-770-2316
http://maps.google.Belton

June 29 - Lubbock

Covenant Medical Center 's
Knipling Education & Conference Center
3615 19 th Street (official address)
Actual location is the corner of Louisville and 21st Street
On the 6th floor of the parking garage
Lubbock , TX
806-535-2638
http://maps.google.Lubbock

July 6 - Midland/Odessa

Region XVIII ESC Annex
2700 LaForce Blvd.
Midland, TX
432-563-5554
http://maps.google.Midland

July 7 - El Paso

Border RAC Office
200 North Kansas St.
El Paso , TX 79901
915-838-3202
http://maps.google.El.Paso

July 13 - Austin (1 p.m. – 5 p.m.)

Texas Department of State Health Services
1100 W. 49 th Street
Austin, TX 78756
Room K-100
512-458-7111, ext. 3131
http://maps.google.Austin

Other Trauma registry News – Trauma Data Now Available

Trauma data for 2003 – 2007 is now available on the Department’s website at http://soupfin.tdh.state.tx.us/. You can query this database – which is comprised of data sent to the EMS/Trauma Registry - for type of injuries and frequencies by Trauma Service Area (TSA), county, age, and gender. Data for 2008 will be available later this summer. Five years of data should allow the identification of injury trends and patterns in your geographic area. Trends and patterns can be used to plan and target injury prevention activities and/or evaluate the effectiveness of previously implemented local prevention activities.

The Map and Report vendor (MTG Management Consultants) continues to work on setting up the user and stakeholder meetings. The list of meetings as well as the preliminary list of data elements will be available before the end of this month on our website at www.dshs.state.tx.us/injury.

In addition to the Map and Report project – in which the goal is to establish recommendations for a new trauma registry system– DSHS IT staff have been working to stabilize and improve the functionality of the current system while we wait for the selection and deployment of the new system. The system should now be faster, more accessible, and reliable. The data should be easier to retrieve and more accurate.

DSHS IT staff also has been working to fix the timeliness, completeness, accessibility, accuracy, and uniformity of available data reports. There is a marked improvement in the time it takes to produce the reports. A list of the reports currently available and the approximate old and new run times experienced at our server is provided in the table below. The actual run times that you will experience may vary but you should see significant improvements.

If you have not yet had the opportunity, please try running the reports and let us know how they are working for you. Also, please be thinking about what reports you would like to see incorporated into the new system.

Update: Week of May 11, 2009

The Map and Report vendor (MTG Management Consultants) continues to work on setting up the user and stakeholder meetings. The RAC Executive Directors in the cities where the meetings are to be held have been extremely helpful in making meeting arrangements in their respective areas. Once all the arrangements have been finalized the list of meetings, times, places, and directions will be posted on the DSHS website. Stakeholder input is vital to the process and we encourage participation in the regional meetings. The last meeting will be held in Austin on the afternoon of July 13 th to provide a final opportunity for input.

Trauma Registry staff continue putting together a preliminary list of required and desired data to serve as a basis for discussion at the statewide meetings. The list will be published on the website before the end of the month.

The Map and Report vendor (MTG Management Consultants) submitted their Project Management Plan. The work plan is divided into four phases: 1) Project Management, 2) Evaluate Current Environment, 3) Evaluate Other State Solutions 4) Develop Recommended Alternatives.

The Stakeholder Facilitation Plan has been finalized. DSHS staff and MTG will work with the RAC Chairs to strategically locate user input meetings throughout the state. Both EMS and hospital providers will have an opportunity to provide input during these sessions. The current plan is to meet with EMS providers in the mornings from 8am-12pm, and with hospital trauma center providers in the afternoons from 1pm-5pm. It is expected that meetings will be held at locations and facilities that will facilitate maximum participation. Each meeting will be conducted in the same manner with a focus on the desired features of a new Registry. Below are the tentative meeting dates and locations:

June 1 Houston
June 8 Harlingen
June 12 San Antonio
June 15 Tyler
June 17 Arlington
June 22 Temple
June 24 El Paso
June 29 Lubbock
July 6 Midland / Odessa
J uly 13 Austin

The Map and Report vendor has submitted a draft Stakeholder Facilitation Plan which is currently undergoing internal review. The major goal of the facilitation plan is to collect and document stakeholder requirements for the replacement Trauma Registry system. Specific objectives outlined in the draft plan include: 1) maximizing stakeholder participation in developing the requirements, 2) developing a strategy that focuses on a new system and not issues from the past, 3) defining requirements to improve stakeholder participation, 4) identifying new and emerging alternatives for future solutions, and 5) obtaining stakeholder justification and rationale for suggested requirements as applicable. MTG is planning on traveling to 8 areas of the state in June to gather stakeholder and user input from both EMS and hospitals. This week the consultants also met with the database contractor to review and confirm the current Registry's technical requirements and DSHS staff began working on future data requirements to serve as a baseline for obtaining system user data requirements.

The Map and Report Vendor, MTG Management Consultants, began work on April 14, 2009. Final revisions to the Project Charter have been made and work on data flow diagrams and the business use case modes have been progressing. A copy of the Project Charter is attached for your convenience. MTG and staff attended the EMS and Trauma Registry Summit sponsored by TETAF. The meeting was very informative and covered topics that included national standards for EMS providers and hospitals, the importance of valid data, and how data can be used for quality improvement. MTG met several system users and obtained a preliminary introduction to the Texas trauma system.

Brief Project Description : The Map and Report Project will focus on the following activities: 1) an investigation of state-of-the-art software and solutions in the area of EMS and Trauma Registries, which will work for both EMS and hospitals. 2) Investigation and screening of major EMS and trauma solutions and alternatives. 3) Detailed analysis of all alternatives. 4) Weekly progress reports. 5) Basic business justification cost analysis for all solutions. 6) Evaluate a minimum of six state registry systems, including visiting a minimum of three. 7) Working with external stakeholders for requirements gathering, customer interfaces, and associated security controls. 8) Supporting stakeholder relations as requested. 9) Ensuring that registry solutions follow NEMSIS and NTDB standards and include the collection of traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and submersion injuries. 10) A final report with recommendations in ranked order including justification, supportability, and cost analysis along with pertinent supporting documents to justify each recommendation. 11) An executive briefing document that supports the solutions from a business to technical perspective along with all associated costs. In addition the briefing will address how the solution will accomplish the agency’s strategic plan and how it will build closer business relationships with stakeholders.

Below is a brief description of the major steps of the assessment project with approximate timelines (more detail is included in the attached Project Charter).

The project continues to have the highest level of executive support. Below is a list of the Executive Steering Committee members who will be guiding, directing and supporting the project.

Executive Steering Committee Members

• Dr. Adolfo Valadez, Assistant Commissioner for Prevention and Preparedness Services
• Dee Porter, Chief Operating Officer
• Jake Nicholson, Director, Information Technology Section
• Jane Guerrero, Director, Office of EMS and Trauma Services Coordination, Division for Regulatory Services
• Linda Jones, Manager, Injury and EMS/Trauma Registry Group, Environmental Epidemiology and Disease Registries Section, Division for Prevention and Preparedness Services
• Linda Wiegman, General Counsel, Governmental Law Unit
• Dr. Lucina Suarez, Director, Environmental Epidemiology and Disease Registries Section, Division for Prevention and Preparedness Services
• Machelle Pharr , Chief Financial Officer
• Michelle Robles, Project Manager, Injury and EMS/Trauma Registry Group, Environmental Epidemiology and Disease Registries Section, Division for Prevention and Preparedness Services
• Nick Dauster, Manager, Governmental Affairs Unit
• Olivia Walker, Program Specialist, Governmental Affairs Unit
• Renee Clack, Director, Health Care Quality Section, Division for Regulatory Services

Update: Week of April 13, 2009

The first phase of the Trauma Registry Improvement Project was the development of a Statement of Work (SOW) to hire an outside vendor to conduct a Map and Report process. This process will involve a thorough analysis of the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) business model, business functions, business processes, business needs, the current system’s functions, the gathering and analyzing of stakeholder input, and the conducting of a best practices assessment of other states’ registries. The expected product from the vendor is a report on solution options with justifications for an EMS/Trauma Registry system in Texas.

The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) procurement office submitted the proposal to thirteen Deliverables Based Information Technology Services vendors under the category “Assessment and Planning” and three vendors provided proposals. A panel of DSHS program and IT staff and external stakeholders served as the selection team. Members included Jane Guerrero, Director of the DSHS Office of EMS and Trauma Systems Coordination, Regulatory Division; Linda Jones, DSHS EMS/Trauma Registry Program, Prevention and Preparedness Division; Andy Alegria, DSHS EMS/Trauma Registry Program, Prevention and Preparedness Division; Dave Hobson, DSHS IT Group Manager; Christie Perez, Program Manager, Texas Department of Transportation; Tammy Morgan, Trauma Registry Manager, Parkland Health and Hospital System, Dallas. The three vendors presented their proposals to the panel on March 26, 2009. Friday, March 27, 2009, the panel met to review and score the vendors and by consensus chose MTG Management Consultants as the best proposal. DSHS negotiated an acceptable scope of work with MTG, within budget, during the week of March 30.

The DSHS Executive Steering Committee for the Trauma Registry Improvement Project reviewed the SOW and timeline and accepted the MTG proposal at their April 9 meeting. The DSHS legal department approved the SOW, the MTG project plan, and cost proposal. All documents have been submitted to HHSC for issuance of the purchase order. The vendor will begin April 14, 2009, and the contract will terminate September 30, 2009.

MTG plans to attend the EMS and Trauma Registry Summit in Dallas to meet stakeholders. The first deliverable is a stakeholder plan due April 30th.