Two of Maine’s three trauma centers are working to be re-verified by the American College of Surgeons after their status lapsed. 

Maine’s trauma centers are at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and Maine Medical Center in Portland. Central Maine Medical Center and Maine Medical Center are the two that are not verified.

ACS verification is a kind of stamp of approval to show that trauma centers are maintaining the resources and meeting the standards to properly treat trauma patients. Those who deal with trauma centers, including Maine Emergency Medical Services, usually like to see the centers verified. 

However, the hospitals and the state say the lack of verification isn’t a problem in this case.

Maine Med spokesman Matt Paul said his hospital lost its verification earlier this year because of an administrative issue. The hospital has struggled to schedule a site visit with the American College of Surgeons because of “a confluence of things,” Paul said, including the installation of a new medical records system and the illness of someone needed during the verification process.

The hospital has decided to wait until early 2014 for its site visit in order to give ACS officials a full year of records to inspect under the new system.

“(The administrative issues) in no way impact our ability to deliver expert care,” Paul said in an email. “We are confident in regaining verification when we are able to host ACS representatives for a site evaluation and review.”

Central Maine Medical Center’s verification expired in June 2012, but the hospital asked to put off re-verification when all four of its trauma surgeons, including the program’s director, left around that time. 

The trauma center continued to operate with visiting surgeons overseen by Acting Director Larry Hopperstead, who founded the program in the 1990s and led it for years. CMMC recently hired a permanent trauma director and is planning to hire three new surgeons.

The hospital had its verification review last November and is expected to have its on-site review this November.

As at Maine Med, Central Maine Medical Center officials say the lack of verification has not affected patient care.

The state agrees.

Maine EMS is the state agency that designates regional trauma centers. It uses verification to help it decide whether a potential program is committed and capable of providing trauma care.

Jay Bradshaw, director of Maine EMS, said he was not concerned about the two non-verified programs. 

“(Verification) matters, but it’s only one piece of how a hospital in Maine becomes identified within our system as a trauma center,” he said.

Bradshaw said Maine EMS and the hospitals maintain “excellent lines of communication,” so EMS knows when a hospital falters, and why. Although a lapse of verification can sometimes be a sign that a trauma program has problems, he believes that isn’t true in these cases. He believes all three of Maine’s trauma centers are doing their jobs.

“If it got to the point where they’re not providing the services, that would be the point we would step in and have a different dialogue,” he said.

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