Ohio AAP Fights Back to Protect Adolescent Well Visits

The Ohio High School Athletic Association recently made an important announcement on their recommendations for pre-participation sports evaluations for the 2020-2021 school year. These recommendations are a direct result of the advocacy work Ohio AAP’s leadership and committee members have been championing over the past few weeks.  We would like to send a special thank you to Dr. Kelsey Logan, Dr. Steve Cuff and Dr. Joe Congeni for their tireless effort advocating and supporting this cause! Many states have recently eased their physical requirements for athletes including allowing last year’s clearance to be honored for the upcoming sports season.  These evaluations are crucial in getting teens seen and assessed by physicians, and forgoing them is dangerous. OHSAA guidelines are now recommending:

• Continue with requirement for an annual pre-participation physical evaluation every 13 months for all 7-12 grade students
• Recommend strongly discouraging the use of mass physicals for the upcoming school year and all students receive their pre-participation physical in a private setting 
• Strongly recommend physical exams be done at a medical home

This is a huge success for Ohio AAP, our members, and most importantly for the health and safety of Ohio’s children! And while this is a step in the right direction, we all know that sports physicals are not a replacement for routine well care visits. We have created the below graphic for your use and sharing. We hope you can use it to educate parents and families on the importance of maintaining well care visits and on the differences of care received between sports physicals and well care visits.

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