Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation

“The executive committee is comprised of the chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, chairman of the standards committee, chairman of the registry committee, chairman of the policy and procedure committee, and immediate past chairman of the board. All members are on the governing body. This committee has the authority to act for the board of directors between regularly scheduled meetings and reports to the board such action and recommendations pertaining to the operations of the foundation. This committee is responsible for reviewing and recommending proposed changes to the bylaws of the foundation on an as needed basis. The board chairman may appoint additional board members to the executive committee if the composition of the committee is lacking expertise in a given area.”

“The prepared form 990 will be reviewed first by the executive director and the board executive committee comprised of all officers and committee chairpersons. A final version will then be distributed to all board members.”

“On an annual basis all board members are given a conflict of interest form to complete. Trauma centers are also asked to submit a conflict of interest form to identify which board members in their view have conflicts of interest with the institution. This acts as a safety mechanism in case the board member is unaware of conflicts his/her institution may have with another hospital. All forms are reviewed by staff and legal counsel initially then a blinded version is submitted to the board conflict of interest committee for review and determination regarding whether a conflict disclosed by a board member fits the definition according to the ptsf conflict of interest policy. Any conflicts deemed appropriate by the committee are confirmed with the board member and the trauma center. During board accreditation deliberations board members who have a conflict with an applicant institution are not permitted to engage in deliberations and must remove themselves from the meeting area. A board member will be made aware of conflicts cited by a hospital that he/she did not submit.”

“The board of directors annually approves the executive director's salary. The annual review includes material on compensation for comparable positions. The approval is documented in the board minutes. The executive committee has significant representation from hospital and health system leadership who are familiar with trauma position pay across the commonwealth, as well as access to pay grades from other trauma programs. Those pay grades, especially those of trauma program coordinators, and nursing clinical directors, are used to test the compensation package of the executive director since this role has comparable qualifications and similiar responsibilities on a statewide level. In addition the organization uses "payscale" software as a tool to determine the executive director's salary based on national market data for the same position. Increases to compensation are consistent with increases in health care in general.”

“Copies of the organization's governing documents, conflict of interest policy and audited financials are available upon request.”

“The process used by the committee that assumes responsiblity for oversight of the audit and selection of an independent accountant has not changed from the prior year.”