Northern Ohio Trauma System (NOTS) Expands Network
Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals have joined together to create a new Northern Ohio Trauma System (NOTS), which will provide coordinated trauma care to patients throughout Cuyahoga County and the seven-county Northeast Ohio region.
As part of this enhanced trauma network, University Hospitals is adding its trauma expertise to NOTS. The NOTS network was originally formed in 2010 between MetroHealth and Cleveland Clinic, and NOTS assisted the City of Cleveland public safety forces to get the right patient to the right place at the right time for their care.
Building on the collaboration among Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals during recent public health events including Flu and Ebola responses and the Republican National Convention preparation, the three health systems with the full support of Cleveland Mayor, Frank G. Jackson, strengthened their work together to enhance trauma service coordination across the region.
NOTS members will coordinate with public safety forces and network hospitals to ensure patients are rapidly triaged and taken to the appropriate level of care within the network. The NOTS network has expanded to include three regional Level I Adult Trauma Centers – Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital, MetroHealth main campus Emergency Department and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. The most severe patients will be treated at these locations and at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Pediatric Level I Trauma Center.
Less severe trauma patients will be taken to one of Northeast Ohio’s Level II Adult Trauma Centers including, Cleveland Clinic’s Fairview and Hillcrest hospitals, or the Pediatric Level II Trauma Center at MetroHealth’s main campus. Other trauma patients will be treated at University Hospitals’ Level III trauma centers – including UH St. John Medical Center, UH Geauga Medical Center and UH Portage Medical Center as well as Southwest General Health Center, a joint-venture hospital with UH.
As Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals work collaboratively to provide enhanced services through NOTS, it is the city of Cleveland and our surrounding communities that will benefit most from the sharing of this expertise across health care systems. This expanded network will improve our hospitals’ ability to respond to the need for increased access to high-level trauma services.
”Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals have formed a new regional trauma organization to benefit the people of Northeast Ohio,” said Robert Wyllie, MD, Chairman, NOTS and Cleveland Clinic Chief of Medical Operations. “The three trauma systems will coordinate the services of pediatric and adult trauma victims to maximize and improve trauma services in the region.”
“The heartbreaking effects of traumatic injuries impact both patients and their families, and improving outcomes is the most important part of expanding NOTS,” said Bernard Boulanger, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of MetroHealth. “The inclusion of additional trauma centers in NOTS will help ensure that more patients receive the proper care they need at a most crucial time.”
“We are pleased to collaborate with MetroHealth and Cleveland Clinic to enhance trauma service coordination throughout Northeast Ohio,” said Jeffrey Peters, MD, University Hospitals Chief Operating Officer. “Throughout the country, coordinated regional trauma networks have become important vehicles to improve outcomes for trauma patients. We believe this new, expanded network will be a significant resource for our community.”
NOTS is governed by an advisory board which will appoint a medical director and a pediatric medical director to serve two-year terms.
