CORE-AT is a specialized, web-based Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and injury surveillance system built specifically for use by athletic trainers. It was developed by athletic trainers and is managed in partnership with RippleGroup, a technology communication company, as a key component of the Athletic Training Practice-Based Research Network (AT-PBRN).
Key Features and Capabilities
The system is designed to provide comprehensive documentation of patient care and facilitate clinical outcomes research. Its capabilities include:
- Patient/Athlete Registration: Documentation of individual patient and athlete demographics (e.g., sex, age, grade).
- Injury Documentation: Recording of injury demographics (e.g., sport, season, position) and comprehensive patient evaluation details (e.g., diagnosis, injured body part, side, mechanism of injury).
- Clinical Notes: Daily treatment, progress, and discharge notes, including athletic training interventions and rehabilitation protocols.
- Coding & Billing Support: Ability to assign ICD-10 CM and CPT codes to patient diagnoses and treatments, which helps in characterizing athletic training practice and generating cost-estimates for services.
- Patient-Oriented Outcome Measures (PROMs): Includes single and multi-item patient-oriented outcome measures, both generic and region-specific. These instruments are automatically generated and included as part of the patient evaluation process.
- Injury Surveillance: Constructed to capture and integrate injury surveillance information specific to athlete injury.
Technical and Compliance
CORE-AT is a web-based system where data is uploaded in real-time and transmitted to secure, redundant servers, meaning health information is not stored locally on computers. The EMR is compliant with data acquisition, storage, and transmission standards set forth by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Target Users and Use Cases
The primary target user is the Athletic Trainer within an institutional or clinical setting. Its main use cases are:
- Comprehensive Patient Care Documentation: Serving as the primary EMR for athletic training practices.
- Clinical Outcomes Assessment: Promoting the use of outcome instruments as part of standard practice to assure collection of appropriate patient information.
- Injury Surveillance and Research: Capturing and integrating data to connect clinicians and researchers across the country, supporting quality improvement and evidence-based practice (EBP) efforts within the AT-PBRN.