A concussion program that works clinically and a concussion program that works financially are not automatically the same thing, and the second one is where most attempts stall. The clinical protocol is usually the easier half to get right. The team structure and the billing model underneath it are where a program either becomes sustainable or quietly drains resources until someone shuts it down.
Protocol design starts from a standardized assessment and return to activity pathway, not an ad hoc one built visit by visit. Staffing it from zero means deciding early who owns which piece, the initial evaluation, the ongoing symptom tracking, the return to play decision, rather than routing everything through one overloaded physician.
Written by John M. Abrahams, MD — board-certified neurosurgeon, founder of New York Brain & Spine Surgery.
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