In addition to the definitions in 50-6-401, MCA, the following definitions apply to this subchapter:

(1) "Application" means the submission of written information by a health care facility, on forms required by the department, requesting designation as a specific level of trauma facility and providing information regarding its compliance with the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria concerning the resources a facility must have to qualify as that level of trauma facility.

(2) "Area trauma hospital" means a health care facility that is designated by the department as having met the essential standards for area trauma hospitals as specified in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.

(3) "Community trauma facility" means a health care facility that is designated by the department as having met the standards for a community trauma facility as described in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.

(4) "Comprehensive trauma center" means a health care facility that is designated by the department as having met the standards for a comprehensive trauma center as described in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.

(5) "Corrective action plan" means the specific actions that are required of a health care facility by the department in order to be in compliance with trauma facility requirements and that are included in a plan written by the health care facility and approved by the site review team.

(6) "Designated facility" refers to a health care facility that has been determined by the department to satisfy the requirements of one of the four categories of trauma facilities as described in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.

(7) "Designation" means a formal determination by the department that a health care facility has met the requirements for a level of trauma facility as described in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.

(8) "Designation subcommittee" means members of the State Trauma Care Committee's Performance Improvement Subcommittee that are selected by the Trauma Care Committee's chairperson to evaluate a site review team's report and who make recommendations to the department concerning a health care facility's designation.

(9) "Emergency department" means an area of a licensed health care facility that customarily receives patients in need of emergency evaluation or care.

(10) "Focused review" means a method established by the department to assess a health care facility's compliance with a corrective action plan to meet the resource criteria in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.

(11) "Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria" means the document within the Montana Trauma System Plan that contains the requirements for a facility to meet in order to be designated as a particular type of trauma care facility. The department adopts and incorporates by reference the department's Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria (2024). A copy of the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria (2024) may be obtained from the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Public Health and Safety Division, Emergency Medical Services and Trauma Systems Section, 1400 Broadway, P.O. Box 202951, Helena, MT 59620-2951 or electronically at

https://dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/emsts/Trauma/Regulation.

(12) "Nurse practitioner" means a person who is licensed as a professional registered nurse and approved by the Montana Board of Nursing as a nurse practitioner.

(13) "Peer review" means the confidential review by health care practitioners from multiple disciplines of provider performance in order to reduce morbidity and mortality and to improve the care of patients.

(14) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in Montana by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners.

(15) "Physician's assistant" means a person who is licensed to practice as a physician assistant by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners.

(16) "Practitioner" means a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant.

(17) "Provisional designation" means that a health care facility has substantially, although not completely, complied with the requirements for a given level of trauma facility, that a corrective action plan has been submitted by the facility to the department, and that the facility has been authorized by the department to serve as a trauma facility on a temporary basis.

(18) "Regional trauma center" means a health care facility that is designated by the department as having met the criteria for a regional trauma center as described in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.

(19) "Regional Trauma Care Advisory Committee" means a regional committee composed of representatives from each of the region's trauma facilities established pursuant to 50-6-411, MCA.

(20) "Site review team" means a group of individuals selected by the department who have expertise in trauma care and trauma program administration and that evaluates a medical facility's compliance with required trauma facility criteria.

(21) "Site survey" means the process by which the site review team visits a health care facility that has applied for trauma facility designation, reviews the compliance of the medical facility with the applicable trauma facility criteria, and makes recommendations regarding designation to the department.

(22) "Trauma diversion" means a health care facility that temporarily does not have all the resources available to optimally resuscitate a seriously injured patient, with the result that such a patient is diverted from that hospital prior to arrival there and arrangements are made simultaneously for the patient to be received and treated at another facility that can provide more readily available and appropriate medical care.

(23) "Trauma patient" means an individual suffering from a trauma as defined in 50-6-401, MCA.

(24) "Trauma receiving facility" means a health care facility that is designated by the department as having met the criteria for a trauma receiving facility as described in the Montana Trauma Facility Designation Criteria.