The financial impact of an athletic trainer working as a physician extender in orthopedic practice.

The provision of care and business of musculoskeletal medicine have evolved signifncalty over the last two decades. It has become ever more important that those who are leading muskuloskeletal medicine practices evolve with the changing healthcare landscape and find new ways to provide higher quliaty and more cost-effetive care. To meet these new challenges, many orthopedic physicians are choosing to hire athletic trainers as a part of their office staff. Athletic trainers provide value to a medical practice through their skills in triage, taking patient histories, performing musculoskeletal evaluations, providing instruction on exercise prescription, rehabilitation, and general patient education. If a practice can become more efficient by narroworring staff to a single ancillary provider that encompasses several skills at a high level, this is where patient throughput and patient satisfaction scores can be improved by the athletic trainer as a physician extender.