Eight NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants, will begin using electronic medical records, or EMRs, in 2013, according to reports. These EMRs are a part of a comprehensive database detailing the injury history of every player in the NFL that will be accessible to each of the league's 32 teams.
By 2014, all 32 teams are expected to be using the database. A league source speaking on the issue said, "What you should have in this system is a way for any team interested in signing a player - with player permission - a chance to access his records so there aren't disclosure issues."
This issue picked up steam after the Houston Texans inked safety Ed Reed three-year, $15 million deal ($5 million guaranteed), and later uncovered a labral tear in his hip that required surgery. Reed underwent the procedure and expects to be ready for training camp, but if he intentionally withheld injury information it could allow Houston to recoup some or all of his guaranteed money.
The league is hoping this new, totally encompassing system, can curb unexpected injury information from cropping up once a player is signed. One agent, however, thinks the new system will backfire and make players less trustful of team medical staffs.
"I would advise my clients to seek outside doctors and not report anything to the team if they're going to share information," the agent, who has more than 20 years experience, said. "There are obviously some injuries that everybody is going to know about. But I don't want everything my player does to get reported to every team. No way."
Yahoo! Sports reports the Dolphins are in a legal battle with offensive lineman Artis Hicks over $1.2 million the team does not want to shell out since he never played for the team. Hicks did not disclose a neck injury he suffered earlier in his career.
Hicks' agent, Peter Schaffer, is on record as saying, "He had an MRI on his neck and the result came back negative, there was no damage," Schaffer said. "If the result of the test was negative, why should he have to report it?"
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