Dear Chairwoman Lowey and DeLauro and Ranking Members Granger and Cole:
As you consider Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations for Fiscal Year FY (2021), the
Trauma Coalition, a broad group of organizations representing the nations frontline trauma
providers, writes to ask you to provide $11.5 million in funding for the Military and Civilian
Partnership for the Trauma Readiness Grant Program.
In 2016, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a report
titled, “A National Trauma Care System: Integrating Military and Civilian Trauma Systems to Achieve
Zero Preventable Deaths After Injury.” This report suggests one of four military trauma deaths and
one of five civilian trauma deaths could be prevented if advances in trauma care reach all injured
patients. The report concludes that military and civilian integration is critical to saving these lives
both on the battlefield and at home, preserving the hard-won lessons of war, and maintaining the
nation’s readiness and homeland security.
Section 204, of S. 1379, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act
of 2019 (PAHPAI), known as the MISSION ZERO Act was signed into law June 24, 2019 (Public Law
No: 116-22). MISSION ZERO takes the recommendations of the NASEM report to create a U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant program to cover the administrative costs of
embedding military trauma professionals in civilian trauma centers. These partnerships will allow
military trauma care teams and providers to gain exposure to treating critically injured patients and
increase readiness for when these units are deployed. Similarly, best practices from the battlefield
are brought home to further advance trauma care and provide greater civilian access.
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