(1) In addition to the requirements specified in 50-6-412, MCA, each Regional Trauma Care Advisory Committee must do the following:

(a) meet quarterly to identify specific regional trauma needs and to define corrective strategies;

(b) propose trauma care guidelines or protocol, backed by evidence and research showing their efficacy, to the State Trauma Care Committee;

(c) develop a Regional Trauma Plan that addresses each of the following trauma system components:

(i) prehospital trauma communications and dispatch;

(ii) medical control and treatment protocols for prehospital caregivers;

(iii) triage and transportation of trauma victims;

(iv) facility resources in the region for trauma patients;

(v) interfacility transfer of trauma patients;

(vi) rehabilitation resources;

(vii) criteria to determine what the composition of a patient's trauma team should be given the nature of the patient's trauma;

(viii) trauma performance improvement; and

(ix) disaster management; and

(d) keep minutes of each Regional Trauma Care Advisory Committee meeting and submit a copy to the State Trauma Care Committee.

(2) Each Regional Trauma Care Committee must have a structure that addresses each of the following elements:

(a) trauma performance improvement;

(b) the Regional Trauma Plan;

(c) trauma education;

(d) prehospital trauma issues; and

(e) injury prevention and control.

(3) In accordance with 50-6-415, MCA, Regional Trauma Care Advisory Committee and subcommittee meetings must be open to the public, and the information presented at such meetings is public as well, unless the committee or subcommittee determines that the meeting, or a portion thereof, will perform peer review and performance improvement activities, in which case:

(a) the meeting, or the relevant portion thereof, is limited to:

(i) members of the committee or subcommittee; and

(ii) guests who further the process of performance improvement, are invited by the performance improvement subcommittee chairperson, and are approved by the Regional Trauma Care Advisory Committee chairperson in advance;

(b) each committee or subcommittee member and guest must sign a form indicating they will not divulge any proceedings of the closed meeting, conversations during the meeting, or documents used during the meeting; and

(c) the minutes and the information presented, including all records and deliberations of the meeting, are confidential and not discoverable. 

(4) If a meeting is closed pursuant to (3), the Regional Trauma Care Advisory Committee may still develop summary reports, findings, and recommendations to the State Trauma Care Committee, Regional Trauma Care Advisory Committee, an Individual Trauma Facility Trauma Program, or an individual health care practitioner.