The Florida Department of Health is proposing a new formula for determining the need for new hospital trauma centers, the News Service of Florida reports.
The scoring system will factor in population, transport times to hospitals and community support, and whether there are Level 1 trauma centers in the area that might lose their patient base.
The proposal is the latest in a long-running battle over new trauma centers, with HCA hospitals fighting to establish new mid-level trauma centers -- Level 2's -- in metro areas where Level 1 centers are long-established.