While the health care industry is trying to sort out EHR interoperability, the National Football League already has it down pat. With approximately 1,700 players moving between 32 teams in the league, a cohesive medical system was necessary. In the HIMSS15 session, "Bringing Continuity of Care to Sports Medicine," Michelle McKenna-Doyle, NFL chief information officer, and Matthew Matava, M.D., former president of the NFL Physicians Society and head team physician for the St. Louis Rams, discussed their successes in integrating all of the league's health IT.
Interoperability is key
According to McKenna-Doyle, technology is not the problem – the people involved in making the information widely accessible are. Football players have medical records from various providers, meaning there needs to be a system in place and a willingness to use it for past information to be beneficial, Computerworld explained. When league officials instructed team owners to contact hospital executives, the NFL has been able to get their players treatment utilizing their electronic medical records.
Once the problem with EHR software was figured out, NFL staff had to come up with a way to ensure all health information, including medical imaging, could be transferred from one doctor to another and between teams depending on the organization involved. The NFL implemented a league-wide picture archiving and communication system to keep track of players' digital images regardless of their location.
"Our goal was to provide a comprehensive record, medical history and images without delay, meaning it needed to be available immediately when treating injuries," McKenna-Doyle said during the presentation, according to Computerworld. "Storing images in a centralized location would not have solved the problem, as the images would have to be accessible in multiple places at multiple times."
Access to new tools improving healthcare
When a player switches teams, his medical history needs to be transferred with him, otherwise the new team physician will not know how to treat him. His health records become part of his employment, according to McKenna-Doyle. It could affect which doctors he sees, which position he plays and how often he takes the field. All this information moves with the player, and is only accessible by his current team physicians. HIPAA rules are always followed – when the player leaves, a firewall is put in place to block information to his previous doctors.
The NFL's Injury Video Review System has cameras set up above stadiums to capture film in case of injuries. This program allows team physicians to see how players got hurt and come up with better treatments. Videos and tests can be stored in the EHR software and compared to baseline results to determine the severity of the injury, MedPage Today explained. A pre-season baseline for each player's health is taken, Matava explained during the session, according to the source. All this information is accessible from tablets on the sidelines.
With the number of times an NFL player changes teams and travels for games, the need for interoperability between all health IT is crucial. For doctors to treat players accurately in the event of injuries, they must have access to any information from medical records that could help. The NFL has made this a priority so its players do not face insufficient treatment.
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Ronny Bachrach
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