10 Reasons Most EMRs Are Not Built for Sports Medicine

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
To be able to create and manage athletes, not patients.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
If you’re logging injuries in a non-sports medicine EHR, every athlete with ANY kind of injury must be entered as a patient.

Why that’s an issue

Do you need to create a patient profile for a sprained ankle that doesn’t need a visit to any of your physicians? This can lead to wasted time, effort, and database resources to build patients who have no clinical encounters.  

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
To be able to document notes and actions for an athlete (SOAP Notes, Concussion Tests, Treatments, etc.)

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
There’s only one way to document in a general EHR without creating a billable encounter - a blank note.

Why that’s an issue

Blank notes don’t offer any structure or guidance to simplify and support best practices in managing an athlete’s health and performance.

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
To have mobile access to log, track and communicate from the field, sideline, or injury site.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Typical EHR’s are optimized for use on a desktop/laptop in the office. They lack many features for mobile environment.

Why that’s an issue

ATs spend almost all of their time in the field, not at a desk or behind a computer. They need access to detailed SOAP Notes, Concussion Tests, and Live Secure Chat with coaches and parents.

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
To have the ability to look athletes up by school or sport.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Non-sports medicine EHR’s don’t have the capability to create, sort, or search athletes in this manner.

Why that’s an issue

Accessing athletes quickly in the app, is important for athletic trainers dealing with injuries happening in real time.

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
An efficient way to log treatments from the sidelines or the training room. 

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Non-sports medicine EHR’s need a billing CPT code for logging treatments.

Why that’s an issue

No athletic trainers bill for their services at the high school level. 

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need...
To have the ability to communicate securely (HIPAA compliant text and video) with coaching staff about injuries.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Non-sports medicine EHR’s generally only communicate via a portal with patients.

Why that’s an issue

Making sure your coaching staff understands where each injured athlete is, with regards to their recovery, is key to reducing re-injury.

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need...
To have the ability to communicate securely (HIPAA compliant text and video) with parents and caregivers about their children’s injuries.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Non-sports medicine EHR’s usually limit communication to email, not live text or video.

Why that’s an issue

Most injured athletes aren’t patients of a health system at the time of injury. If they aren’t patients, the parents or caregivers would have no way to contact the athletic trainer.

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
To see which of their athletes have “open” injuries. These injuries are non-clinical and awaiting assessment or follow-up.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Non-sports medicine EHR’s requires a patient record, and a billable encounter. 

Why that’s an issue

An athlete injured during a game, who ultimately can be treated on the sideline or post-game treatment room, does not need clinical encounters built and managed - especially when that requires a blank note. 

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
To easily build and collect forms for different teams, schools, and individual athletes.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Most EHR’s require forms to be PDF downloads. Forms then need to be printed, collected, and uploaded back into the EHR.

Why that’s an issue

Downloading, filling out, and then uploading is too time consuming and difficult for most parents. This makes adherence and engagement low. Yet forms, like state participation forms, are a critical component of AT compliance.

Smart Sports Medicine Groups Need…
To have the ability to send educational materials and promotions to their network of athletes and parents.

How Most EHR’s Would Handle This…
Non-sports medicine EHR’s share documents via individual patients through patient portals (see issues above).

Why that’s an issue

Sharing documents or promotional announcements with “schools” or “teams” is not something that can be done in most general EHR’s.