Get the OK to Play from your physician before the sports season starts.
About Us
OK to Play, brought to you by The Center Foundation and funded by the Central Oregon Health Council, encourages teens to visit their primary care provider for a combined annual check-up and sports physical.
Students are required to have a sports physical, and submit a completed School Sports Pre-Participation Examination form, every two years before they can play an OSAA (Oregon Schools Activities Association) sanctioned sport. Often, this is the only medical exam a teen will have. We feel that having a sports physical as a standalone visit with a provider that you don’t usually see has its limitations. A sports physical is a screening tool for sports participation, but it can’t replace a complete health and wellness check-up.
Experts, like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Oregon Health Authority, suggest that teens have a complete check-up with their primary care provider each year for optimal health. Annual check-ups (also known as well child visits) include physical and developmental assessments, preventative care plans, and important conversations with teens about stress, anxiety and risky behaviors – critical assessments that are not included in a standalone sports physical.
OK to Play ensures that students in need of a sports physical have a comprehensive well child visit with their regular primary care provider at the same time. Importantly, most insurance plans, including the Oregon Health Plan (OHP), cover the combined annual check-up and sports physical but do not cover a standalone sports physical.
The Center Foundation is helping to attain this higher standard of healthcare, at no additional cost to families, by promoting OK to Play to pediatric and primary care physicians in Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson counties. Physicians and clinics throughout Central Oregon have committed to the OK to Play initiative and the higher standard of care for Central Oregon teens. The result is that students benefit from a comprehensive health and wellness exam including a sports physical and completed documentation. More robust care at no additional cost!
About The Center Foundation
The Center Foundation believes in keeping kids healthy and safe in an active lifestyle. To accomplish this, we provide certified athletic trainers to Central Oregon high schools. Our athletic trainers serve more than 8,000 students at over 760 sporting events per year, managing injuries and concussions, and educating young athletes on injury prevention. We provide these services at no cost to students or their families. Foundation programs also deliver brain and spinal cord injury prevention education in grade schools, free multi-sport helmets to children in need, and education seminars and conferences for healthcare professionals. Since 2001, we have been Central Oregon’s only nonprofit solely dedicated to providing sports medicine services and education to keep kids safe in sports.
To learn more visit www.centerfoundation.org.
About Central Oregon Health Council
Central Oregon Health Council (COHC) is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt public and private community governance entity. The COHC is dedicated to improving the health of the region and providing oversight of the Medicaid population and Coordinated Care Organization (CCO). Created by Senate Bill 204 in 2011, COHC promotes the health of the region’s residents and seeks to achieve the Triple Aim of improving health outcomes, increasing satisfaction with the health system, and reducing cost.
To learn more visit cohealthcouncil.org.
