Dollars and sense: attributing value to a level I trauma center in economic terms.

Background: Reliable, accurate, program-specific data for hospital product lines are often difficult to obtain. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that trauma center status has on hospital net income when compared with other traditional hospital product lines and services.

Methods: Over a 3-year period, financial data were collected for 16 payor classes: 8 major payors for all injury diagnoses, in-patient and out-patient.