Dr. James Andrews explains his latest initiative as Andrews Institute Chief Operating Officer Chad Gilliland listens last Friday. Joe Culpepper/GBN The Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze and Baptist Health Care of Pensacola are teaming up with a leading health technology company and faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to combat the epidemic of sports injuries plaguing young athletes around the world.

Andrews and Baptist will collaborate with Boston-based Cloud Industries Health to deliver the Andrews Institute’s cutting-edge sports medical knowledge to the world market through Web portals for citizens and medical professionals, coach training, and educational seminars using advanced technologies.

A strategic workshop was held two weeks ago in Cambridge, Mass., where the partnership was forged over several days. At the heart of the initiative is Dr. James

Al Stubblefield, CEO of Baptist Health Care Pensacola, describes how the use of ‘virtual’ technology will enable Andrews Institute to market itself to potential patients, provide unparalleled access to research information and share basic patient information through Internet portals and networks. Joe Culpepper/Gulf Breeze News Andrews, the world’s foremost expert on sports orthopedic medicine, and former MIT Prof. John Donovan, CEO of Cloud Industries Health.

“Professor Donovan and I are joined at the hip,” Andrews said during a news conference Friday at the Andrews- Paulos Research and Education Institute building in Gulf Breeze. “I want nothing less than the elimination of the epidemic of sports injuries currently ravaging our young men and women. This is a revolutionary way of getting there.”

Donovan and Harvard Medical School Professor and Economist Thomas McGuire will undertake a research project to determine if quick, accessible medical care – like the kind delivered through the Andrews Institute’s free Saturday sports clinics – significantly offsets emergency room visits and costs and improves patients’ outcomes. The results of that research might pave the way for Andrews Institute to win approval for health-plan reimbursement for those services and export the Saturday morning clinic model around the country and across the globe.

Donovan “Too many of America’s healthcare resources are devoted to the process and not the patient,” said Al Stubblefield, CEO of Baptist Health Care Pensacola. “The information from Harvard and Cloud Industries is helping us take a scalpel to the process and eliminate the operating inefficiencies.

“With this system, once the patient’s information is in the system, it never has to be entered again and can be shared with other systems should the patient require emergency care away from home.”

Online education will be a significant feature of the partnership. Through the Andrews Citizen’s Portal, created and operated by Cloud Industries, anyone will be able to research thousands of medical topics, view pertinent online videos, and even see and hear messages about a procedure they might be undergoing.

“The possibilities just go on and on,” said Dr. Sunil Gupta, an ophthalmologist who specializes in retinal surgery at Baptist Hospital and Andrews Institute. “Using Cloud technology and teaming with existing Health Information Exchanges, we will exceed and improve on the requirements of the newly enacted health reform law.”

The Andrews Institute’s first initiative will focus on reducing sports injuries among young athletes. A comprehensive educational campaign of sports information will be pushed to every athletic market through the Andrews Institute Portal. Additionally, the treatment and rehabilitation of young athletes coming through the Institute will provide research data as the project progresses.

“Dr. Andrews has challenged us to take this technology and put it to work for public good,” Donovan said via a video uplink.

Andrews added, ‘It’s our desire to keep kids on the playing field and out of the operating rooms.”