Economic impact of outreach athletic trainers on a health system: implications for program growth and sustainability

There are numerous benefits of organized athletics, but there is an inherent risk with competitive participation. The need for proper care for high school and community athletes can be met with comprehensive community sports medicine programs, and the employment of certified athletic trainers (AT-Cs). The benefit of clinic-based AT-C has been clearly demonstrated, but there has been little published on the economics of outreach AT-C serving directly in the community. Our hypothesis was that outreach AT-Cs are economically sustainable to an academic health system.

Evaluation of clinical business generated from the outreach Sports Medicine AT-C program at our institution was performed from fiscal years 2012 to 2015 to determine new referrals, billable patient encounters (bpe), and corresponding revenue generated. Data were retrieved from an existing aggregate business analysis, including both professional billing and hospital billing; data were restricted to the fiscal year of the initial referral. Both new patients and patients with established care were identified. Total revenue was determined, as well as the distribution across clinical departments within our health system.

8570 bpe resulted from 843 patients referred into the system, yielding $2286,733 in total revenue. Of these, 187 were new patients, yielding 1602 bpe. Each patient generated an average of 10.17 bpe, by combining revenue across services; this yielded an average of $2712 per patient generated through the AT-C program.

Affiliation between a health system and community sports teams through an outreach AT-C program is an economically sustainable, symbiotic relationship. Additionally, there is not only a positive economic impact for sports medicine and orthopaedic providers but also a distinct benefit to the entire health system. This is the first study to demonstrate that an outreach AT-C program is financially sustainable and directly benefits the entire health system across many subspecialties.