Severely burned patients in Fort Worth may soon no longer need to be rushed across county lines for lifesaving care. Hospital leaders and regional emergency officials are lining up behind a plan that could keep the most critical burn cases in the city, depending on a key verification and an upcoming local board vote.
According to the Fort Worth Report, Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth would be able to receive severe burn patients from emergency service personnel once the American Burn Association confirms the hospital’s verification to the Medical Control Advisory Board. If that happens and the board signs off, Fort Worth EMS field triage rules would be updated so some major burn patients could be taken to the Fort Worth hospital instead of being sent out of Tarrant County.
Board members have already started hashing out the details. They discussed changing the destination criteria at a March 26 meeting, and the Medical Control Advisory Board will still have to vote before any protocols change, Fort Worth Report notes. Jeffrey Jarvis, Fort Worth’s chief medical officer and chair of the advisory board, told the outlet, "It's going to be a huge benefit for us to be able to keep our patients in Fort Worth." An emergency-medicine expert on the board, Dr. Brian Miller, added, "Those are the thresholds we take."
What Verification Would Mean for Fort Worth
Texas Health Fort Worth has been quietly building out a burn program inside its Level I trauma center as part of its push for American Burn Association verification, adding staff and resources it says are meant to bolster both trauma and burn care. In a Texas Health Fort Worth news release, the hospital reported that it was recently redesignated a Comprehensive Level I Trauma Facility and has expanded emergency resources that leadership says will support higher-acuity patients.
Where Patients Go Now
Right now, the most serious burn victims from Tarrant County are typically transported to already verified burn centers in North Texas, most often the Parkland Burn Center in Dallas and the Burn & Reconstructive Center of Texas at Medical City Plano. Parkland Health operates a long-established ABA-verified burn program, and Community Impact reported that Medical City Plano earned its verification in 2025, making both hospitals key referral destinations for the region.
Evidence and Next Steps
Verification is granted only after an external review confirms that a center has the staff, infrastructure and case volume to handle complex burn care. It can also strengthen a hospital’s ability to draw specialized clinicians and referrals. Research comparing verified and nonverified centers has found fewer infection complications and shorter hospital stays at specialized burn centers, and national guidance from the Journal of Burn Care & Research and the American College of Surgeons outlines referral criteria and verification standards.
The upcoming vote of the Medical Control Advisory Board will determine whether ambulances can start routing some severe burn patients to Fort Worth, a shift that hospital leaders say could cut transfer times and keep families closer during critical care. For now, officials and EMS leaders are watching the board’s next moves as the hospital works through the formal verification process.
