Thank you, Chair.
I want to say what an honour and privilege it is to be here today. I would also like to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak with you today on a topic that is both my passion and my life's work.
My name is Dr. Cameron Marshall. I'm a practising sports specialist chiropractor from Oakville, Ontario. I'm also a published concussion researcher, executive board member of Brain Injury Canada and the founder and president of Complete Concussion Management, a network of specially trained staff in over 250 concussion treatment and rehabilitation clinics across Canada. I'm also a former athlete, playing both junior hockey and lacrosse for Western University.
The very fact that this committee exists speaks well of the Government of Canada's understanding of the importance of concussions as a risk factor for the health and well-being of Canadians. Continuing efforts on the part of government officials, coaches, teachers and health care professionals are succeeding in raising awareness about the importance of concussions.
Founded more than five years ago, Complete Concussion Management is currently the largest single provider of concussion care in Canada. We now see more than twice as many concussions each year as the top 11 pediatric and emergency departments combined. Each day, more than 100 Canadians visit one of our partner clinics for concussion-related issues. This year, CCMI will treat close to 7,000 concussions, and since our care is covered by secondary health insurance, we'll save our provincial health care systems $30 million in 2019 alone.
We also collect, store and analyze this data through our secure electronic database system. This Canadian-built universal EMR system, specially designed for concussion care, is currently, if not the largest, one of the largest concussion databases in the world and is currently being used to conduct research with five Canadian universities.
Seventy-one per cent of the concussion patients we see are under the age of 25, and 57% of their injuries are related to organized sport. Complete Concussion Management currently works with more than 300 youth sports organizations across Canada and are the preferred concussion care providers for more than 50,000 youth athletes.
Yes, there's an app for that, too. The concussion tracker smartphone application walks a coach or sideline therapist through a brief injury-reporting form, instructing them on key things to look for. Once the injury report is complete, notifications are sent to every other sport, team, coach, teacher and trainer associated with that athlete. Medical clearance letters are scanned by the app and shared with all stakeholders associated with the athlete. Constant and automated communication is paired with appropriate documentation and tracking so that nothing falls through the cracks.
A few weeks ago, Mr. Paul Hunter from Rugby Canada stated to this panel that if there were an app that could report injuries across sports, it would be an absolute deal maker. The CCMI concussion tracker app does exactly this, and we have now made it free for all schools and sports programs in Canada.
A few weeks ago, Dr. Roger Zemek reported to the committee that the number of people with concussions presenting to Ontario physicians' offices and emergency departments has quadrupled in the past 10 years. According to the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, the average wait time to see a physician in Ontario is 18 days and to see a neurologist, 250 days. These results demonstrate some inherent limitations of our health care system to deal with this rapidly growing problem.
As such, Complete Concussion Management went about tackling this problem a little differently. We trained licensed physiotherapists and chiropractors to work alongside family physicians for co-management and to improve patient accessibility. Physiotherapists and chiropractors are licensed and regulated health care professionals who have concussion diagnosis and management within their licensed scope of practice.
Over the past seven years the scientific evidence has pointed towards the use of physical exertion testing as a way of establishing physiologic recovery from concussion and preventing premature return to play. As we now know, it is the repeated concussions that ultimately do the most damage and are the single biggest issue in sports-related concussions. Specially trained physiotherapists and chiropractors have the skills, time and equipment to run these necessary tests and assist with the safe return to sport.
As a result, 30% of our patients are now directly referred from family physicians and emergency departments who don't have the equipment or time necessary to run these essential tests. In our experience, the formation of local collaborative multidisciplinary networks of trained health care professionals supports the provision of a high standard of evidence-based best practices concussion care in both urban and rural areas of Canada.
Once again, I am honoured to be able to address you today and I look forward to answering any questions you may have so that we can continue to work together to improve concussion care in this country.
Thank you.