Burn care: are there sufficient providers and facilities?

Mission Statement The mission of the ACS Health Policy Research Institute is to improve our understanding of surgical patient care from a policy perspective in order to educate the public, federal and state governments, health care consumers, and the policy community to enable advocacy for superior, efficient, and compassionate surgical patient care. The goal of the Institute is to create a data driven, knowledge based program for examining issues related to surgical services, the surgical workforce, and public policies affecting surgery. Fire is the fifth leading cause of unintentional injury and the third leading cause of fatal home injury in the U.S. Approximately 450,000 burn injuries receive medical treatment each year, and roughly 3,500 people die in fire-related accidents each year.1 Burn center care, similar to medical services delivered at trauma centers, has been associated with improved survival, decreased hospital costs, and shorter lengths of hospital stay.2, 3