Patient Throughput in a Sports Medicine Clinic With the Implementation of an Athletic Trainer: A Retrospective Analysis

BACKGROUND: Orthopaedic clinics have acquired a multitude of health professionals to improve clinic efficiency. More recently, athletic trainers (ATs) have been utilized to improve clinical efficiency and patient care because of their extensive background in musculoskeletal injuries and anatomy. Improved clinical efficiency allows for increased patient visits, potentially enhancing patient access and downstream revenue via relative value units (RVUs). HYPOTHESIS: The addition of an AT into a sports medicine physician’s clinic will increase total patient throughput and overall RVU production. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 4. METHODS: Patients seen by each of the 2 primary care sports medicine physicians at St Luke’s Sports Medicine for a 2-year period were retrospectively evaluated. The initial clinic model included the physician and a medical assistant; during the second year of analysis an AT was added to the clinic staffing model. Two-tailed t tests were used to determine significant differences in patient volume between the 2 periods of data collection. RESULTS: Through the implementation of an AT, patient throughput increased by 0.7 patients per hour over 2 half-day clinics, a 25% increase (P < 0.01). Physician B patient visits increased by 21%, or 3.8 patients per 6.5-hour clinic day (P < 0.01). Additionally, RVU production increased by 3.23 per half-day and 4.3 per full day for physicians A and B, respectively. CONCLUSION: Clinical efficiency was improved with the addition of an AT. Total physician RVUs improved, thereby raising the potential revenue of both the physician and health care institution. Employing ATs in a sports medicine clinic may improve clinical productivity and financial stability, thereby validating the incorporation of ATs into the established clinical model. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Limited research exists measuring patient throughput with an AT in a sports medicine clinic. This study investigates patient throughput and the subsequent increase in work-based RVUs.