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Insights from Brett Miller, MD, company founder
Believe it or not, orthopedic specialists love taking care of injuries. It’s the reason why we chose our specialty. We also like being able to manage injuries from the beginning so we don’t have to “undo” or “clean up” the improper care that starts elsewhere.
I’ve learned many lessons from the 2,000-plus nights I’ve devoted to answering orthopedic trauma calls, but one has proven most important above all others. The key to getting the best medical outcomes, I’ve discovered, is to get the best treatment advice… right from the start.
Finding a reliable way to give injured patients fast access to expert advice has been a personal quest of mine – and the team I’ve worked with -- for many years now. By bringing the HURT! app to smart phones nationwide, it feels like we’ve finally cracked the code. This free, easy-to-use tool quickly connects injured patients such as athletes to an orthopedic specialist, and in so doing, prevents unnecessary and often-costly trips to emergency rooms or urgent care facilities.
Amid COVID-19, an Alternative to the ER
Launching HURT! has been a trying but rewarding experience. Our team spent several years, and endured hits and misses in developing and testing the app. Once COVID-19 hit, and ERs became crowded and overwhelmed, we knew we needed to move rapidly, go live with HURT!, get this much-needed app into people’s hands and make them see how much it makes sense to use it as an alternative to the usual trip to the ER.
As we’ve seen on the news, ERs these days are laser-focused as they should be on taking care of people who actually need emergency care for heart attacks, for strokes and now, for COVID-related problems. We created HURT to expedite the care of orthopedic injuries by providing immediate expert navigation around and away from those ERs and urgent cares
Avoiding the ER is all-important when you consider the real-life circumstances involving bone and joint injuries. These types of injuries and painful and stressful. When they occur, patients and parents want immediate advice, which is why they often head to the ER. Here’s an interesting fact, though: since 90% of orthopedic injuries that are seen in the ER are discharged to home the same day, it’s obvious that most patients don’t need to be there! They really just need advice, and they need it quickly.
As you’d imagine, ER visits can be costly as well: the average ER bill for a bone or joint injury is about $2,000. If you look at ER visits on a national scale, that’s about 25 million visits for bone and joint injuries that are expensive and unnecessary. This translates into more than $50 billion in wasted spending, most of which comes out of the patients’ pockets.
Attention: athletes, parents and coaches
HURT is for everyone! We suggest you download it before you need it! It is available for Apple or Android devices and is always free. Once you set up your free account, you or your athlete will be ready if injured. Should that occur, the app will connect you directly to an orthopedic specialist in your area. The specialist will have you to share pictures and messages through the app to assess the injury. Together you will determine the next, most appropriate steps based on your situation.
The app allows every athlete to have immediate access to orthopedic experts within minutes. And it’s not just for athletes, our members include parents, coaches, athletic trainers, and many others. They understand the importance of having free access to expert medical advice at their fingertips. They are downloading and registering their families and teams for HURT! without hesitation. It’s an excellent safeguard, especially knowing that 70% of all sports-related injuries happen in the absence of an athletic trainer.
I’m pleased to report that the launch of HURT! has been overwhelmingly successful. It has performed exactly how I envisioned it would. We have been able to keep 100% of our injured members out of the ER. Our current average response time is under four minutes. As a matter of fact, our patients are surprised by how quickly we respond.
Looking ahead, the HURT! mobile phone app for orthopedic-related injuries will lead the way for other medical specialties to follow. By putting the consumer first, we have seen the rapid adoption of our application and methodology. I envision helping millions of patients annually and saving billons of dollars in wasted health-care spending. I’m also excited about the future of HURT! for Business, which gives employers a way to connect their employees to orthopedic specialists and realize significant cost savings in group benefit and medical expenses. More on that topic for next time.
What are your thoughts about HURT!? I’d value hearing your feedback and answering any questions you have. Feel free to contact me directly at contact@hurtapp.com
