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Tom Pelissero, USA TODAY Sports
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/07/17/players-emr-medical-records-online-ipads-concussions/2528111/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nf ... s/2528111/</a>
By the start of the 2014 season, NFL physicians could have a player's entire medical history at their fingertips the moment he comes to the sideline with an injury.
The data — X-rays, imaging studies, notes and more, regardless of where the player may have been examined in the past — would be stored on iPads, which every NFL medical staff will begin using this season as part of the league's ongoing efforts to improve concussion assessment.
"Now, it's a visual to the player. That's the important thing," James Bradley, the Pittsburgh Steelers' head orthopedic surgeon and chairman of the league's medical research committee, told USA TODAY Sports.
"If we can just sit him down and say, 'Look, here's your balance test and your cognitive skills, your memory, your reaction time.' Now they've got a visual of that, which is a very positive step forward with the players accepting that they have an issue and wanting to get it resolved."
Each iPad in use this season will be loaded with X2 software that includes the Sideline Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT-3), the most advanced version yet of the neurocognitive test to determine if a player has a concussion.
The results for most teams will get printed and placed into a physical chart. Eight teams — the Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers — will participate in a pilot program that allows the results to be shot through the Internet into a player's electronic medical record (EMR).
If all goes well, as it did with beta testing of the iPads last season, complete electronic medical records (including baseline concussion assessments) could be in use and transferable between all 32 teams as a player moves via trades or free agency beginning next year.
"Let's say he starts out with the Rams, and then he's either cut or traded or leaves as a free agent, goes to the Denver Broncos, then the information will be portable," said Matthew Matava, head team physician for the St. Louis Rams and president of the NFL Physicians Society.
"The Denver doctors will then have any information that was accrued while he was in St. Louis. Like any other electronic medical record, it will be portable with the player and therefore very accurate."
Article 40, Section 3 of the collective bargaining agreement reached by the league and players in July 2011 provided for such a system, stating that the league "shall develop and implement an online, 24-hour electronic medical record system within 24 months of the effective date of this Agreement or such longer period as the parties may agree."
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/07/17/players-emr-medical-records-online-ipads-concussions/2528111/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nf ... s/2528111/</a>
By the start of the 2014 season, NFL physicians could have a player's entire medical history at their fingertips the moment he comes to the sideline with an injury.
The data — X-rays, imaging studies, notes and more, regardless of where the player may have been examined in the past — would be stored on iPads, which every NFL medical staff will begin using this season as part of the league's ongoing efforts to improve concussion assessment.
"Now, it's a visual to the player. That's the important thing," James Bradley, the Pittsburgh Steelers' head orthopedic surgeon and chairman of the league's medical research committee, told USA TODAY Sports.
"If we can just sit him down and say, 'Look, here's your balance test and your cognitive skills, your memory, your reaction time.' Now they've got a visual of that, which is a very positive step forward with the players accepting that they have an issue and wanting to get it resolved."
Each iPad in use this season will be loaded with X2 software that includes the Sideline Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT-3), the most advanced version yet of the neurocognitive test to determine if a player has a concussion.
The results for most teams will get printed and placed into a physical chart. Eight teams — the Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers — will participate in a pilot program that allows the results to be shot through the Internet into a player's electronic medical record (EMR).
If all goes well, as it did with beta testing of the iPads last season, complete electronic medical records (including baseline concussion assessments) could be in use and transferable between all 32 teams as a player moves via trades or free agency beginning next year.
"Let's say he starts out with the Rams, and then he's either cut or traded or leaves as a free agent, goes to the Denver Broncos, then the information will be portable," said Matthew Matava, head team physician for the St. Louis Rams and president of the NFL Physicians Society.
"The Denver doctors will then have any information that was accrued while he was in St. Louis. Like any other electronic medical record, it will be portable with the player and therefore very accurate."
Article 40, Section 3 of the collective bargaining agreement reached by the league and players in July 2011 provided for such a system, stating that the league "shall develop and implement an online, 24-hour electronic medical record system within 24 months of the effective date of this Agreement or such longer period as the parties may agree."
