Implementation of AIS 2015 Reminder

The Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) produces and maintains the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS©). This injury scale incorporates current medical terminology providing an internationally accepted tool for ranking injury severity. AIS© is an anatomically-based, global severity scoring system that classifies an individual injury by body region on a 6-point scale (1=minor and 6=maximal). AIS© scores are the basis for the Injury Severity Score (ISS) calculation for a patient who has sustained multiple injuries. All AIS© versions are protected by copyright, and both individual use and site licenses can be purchased.
The injury scale provides standardized terminology to describe injuries and ranks injuries by severity. Current AIS© users include health organizations for clinical trauma management, outcome evaluation, and case mix adjustment purposes; motor vehicle crash investigators in order to identify mechanism of injury and improve vehicle design; and researchers for utilization in epidemiological studies and systems development, all of which may influence public policy (laws and regulations).
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced that beginning January 1, 2025, all trauma registry databases in Ohio hospitals will need to collect and submit their data using version AIS 2015. This requirement will apply to all trauma centers, as well as all acute care hospitals and free standing EDs. Presently, the State of Ohio uses an older AIS© standard and has delayed moving to the newer AIS© standard as the Ohio Trauma Acute Care Registry cannot support multiple AIS© versions simultaneously. Since the ACS determined that the AIS 2015 standard will become the only accepted version beginning January 1, 2025, the Ohio Trauma Registry must also support this standard.
Unlike the older version currently accepted by the registry, the newer AIS 2015 version will require each software vendor to maintain a user license. As the cost of this license may vary, each facility will need to contact their software vendor directly to make payment arrangements regardless of whether you report to the state registry by file upload from trauma specific patient care software, by direct patient record entry into the state registry's web-portal, or through a third-party such as a regional trauma system. Additionally, as this is a revised standard, training will be required for the facility staff who are responsible for making AIS 2015 coding determinations for any patient records submitted to the Ohio Trauma Acute Care Registry, and for those records maintained by state trauma facilities for their TQIP programs.
The Ohio Trauma Committee will continue to monitor this situation and its impact on your ability to meet the Ohio Trauma Registry's submission deadlines. The Committee is concerned that only reliable, accurate data be submitted to the Ohio Trauma Registry. We appreciate your understanding in this matter and your continued efforts to provide accurate, timely trauma record submissions each quarter. This vital information is key to measuring the effectiveness of trauma care in Ohio and helping to identify opportunities for improved patient care and outcomes.
If you encounter additional circumstances that prevent you from reporting in a timely manner, please continue to use the existing process for requesting an extension by contacting the Division of EMS directly at [email protected].