TOPEKA — Kansas' trauma-response program now has two Level IV hospitals, following their certification today by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The hospitals — Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems in Beloit and Sabetha Community Hospital in Sabetha — are the first to be certified at Level IV since the program began in 2007.

The Level IV centers are rural hospitals whose primary role is to stabilize seriously injured patients and, if necessary, transfer them to larger trauma centers, said Rosanne Rutkowski, director of the Kansas Trauma Program at KDHE.

"Designation gives the community a level of confidence in the care that's provided," Rutkowski said. "They have to work toward meeting the requirements — they do quality improvement, they report data to the state, they look at what went right and what could have been done better."

KDHE received legislative authority in 2006 to form a state trauma-response program with the aim of developing a network of hospitals that work to get patients to the nearest hospital with appropriate resources as quickly as possible.

In 2007, KDHE began phasing in level I, II and III designations.

"In trauma there's the golden hour," Rutkowski said. "Trauma is a time-critical illness. You need to have a plan in place for treating these patients, because the outcomes are going to be much better than waiting until you have someone who's injured to decide where they would be best treated."

So far, the program consists of:

Level I — Hospitals with a full range of resources, including research.

• University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City

• Wesley Medical Center, Wichita

• Via Christi Hospital, Wichita

Level II — Essentially the same as Level I, without research.

• Stormont-Vail HealthCare, Topeka

• Overland Park Regional Medical Center

Level III — Larger community hospitals with surgical staff.

• Hays Medical Center

• Hutchinson Regional Medical Center

• Via Christi Hospital, Pittsburg

• Labette Health

Level IV — Rural community hospitals without surgical staff.

• Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems, Beloit

• Sabetha Community Hospital

More information at kstrauma.org.