According to a recent study

of the adjusted cost of acute care for injured patients transported by EMS to hospitals in 7 regions: • The average adjusted per episode cost of care was $5,590 higher in a level 1 trauma center than in a nontrauma hospital • 34.3% of low-risk patients—those who did not meet field triage guidelines for transport to trauma centers—were transported to major trauma centers, accounting for up to 40% of acute injury costs • Following field triage guidelines to minimize the overtriage of low-risk injured patients to major trauma centers could save up to $136.7 million annually in the seven regions studied Source: "The Cost Of Overtriage: More Than One-Third Of Low-Risk Injured Patients Were Taken To Major Trauma Centers," Health Affairs, abstract only, September 2013, http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/32/9/1591.abstract