Wash. Rev. Code § 70.168.010 (2026)

The legislature finds and declares that:

(1) Trauma is a severe health problem in the state of Washington and a major cause of death;

(2) Presently, trauma care is very limited in many parts of the state, and health care in rural areas is in transition with the danger that some communities will be without emergency medical care;

(3) It is in the best interest of the citizens of Washington state to establish an efficient and well-coordinated statewide emergency medical services and trauma care system to reduce costs and incidence of inappropriate and inadequate trauma care and emergency medical service and minimize the human suffering and costs associated with preventable mortality and morbidity;

(4) The goals and objectives of an emergency medical services and trauma care system are to: (a) Pursue trauma prevention activities to decrease the incidence of trauma; (b) provide optimal care for the trauma victim; (c) prevent unnecessary death and disability from trauma and emergency illness; and (d) contain costs of trauma care and trauma system implementation; and

(5) In other parts of the United States where trauma care systems have failed and trauma care centers have closed, there is a direct relationship between such failures and closures and a lack of commitment to fair and equitable reimbursement for trauma care participating providers and system overhead costs.