The Mississippi State Department of Health (the Department) is assigned the responsibility for creating, implementing and managing the statewide trauma care system. The Department shall be designated as the lead agency for trauma care system development. The Department shall develop and administer trauma regulations that include, but are not limited to, the Mississippi Trauma Care System Plan, trauma system standards, trauma center designations, field triage, inter-facility trauma transfer, pediatric trauma care, burn care, trauma data collection, trauma care system evaluation and management of state trauma system funding. The Department shall promulgate regulations specifying the methods and procedures by which Mississippi-licensed acute care facilities shall participate in the statewide trauma system. Those regulations shall include mechanisms for determining the appropriate level of participation for each facility or class of facilities. The Department shall also adopt a schedule of fees to be assessed for facilities that choose not to participate in the statewide trauma care system, or which participate at a level lower than the level at which they are capable of participating. The Department shall take the necessary steps to develop, adopt and implement the Mississippi Trauma Care System Plan and all associated trauma care system regulations necessary to implement the Mississippi trauma care system. The Department shall cause the implementation of both professional and lay trauma education programs. These trauma educational programs shall include both clinical trauma education and injury prevention. As it is recognized that rehabilitation services are essential for traumatized individuals to be returned to active, productive lives, the Department shall coordinate the development of the inclusive trauma system with the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and all other appropriate rehabilitation systems.
15 Miss. Code. R. 3-1-1.1.1