Therapeutic use exemption renewal register
Problem
Therapeutic use exemptions let an athlete take a medically necessary substance that would otherwise breach anti-doping rules, and each one carries an approval date, an expiry date and, often, a narrower window in which the renewal paperwork must be filed. Today that detail sits in the team doctor's own file, sometimes a spreadsheet, sometimes a folder of scanned letters, and the renewal date lives in their personal calendar rather than anywhere the department can see. When the doctor is on leave, or the exemption is one of several held by a squad of thirty, a lapse is easy to miss. Nobody outside medical even knows which athletes are currently subject to a substance restriction, so a well-meaning staff member can recommend a supplement or medication that conflicts with it.
Product idea
A register of active exemptions, one row per athlete per substance: issuing body, approval date, expiry date, renewal window and a place to attach the supporting letter. Status shows green, amber or red against the renewal window, and an escalation email goes to the team doctor and the Head of Performance as an amber deadline approaches, then again if it turns red. A separate, restricted summary view tells performance staff which athletes currently have an active exemption and what category of substance it covers, without exposing the clinical detail behind it. It does not manage the exemption application itself, decide whether one is warranted, or file paperwork with the anti-doping organisation; a person still does that. It only makes sure nobody finds out a renewal was missed after the fact.
Who it is for
Team medical staff who hold the exemption detail, and the Head of Performance who sponsors the register and receives the escalation when a renewal deadline is close.
Possible first version
A manually maintained register: one entry per athlete per exemption, with issuing body, approval date, expiry date, renewal window and a document attachment. A dashboard shows status by traffic light and a filtered, restricted view for performance staff. Escalation runs by email, not integration, to the doctor and the Head of Performance at fixed intervals before expiry. Out of scope for version one: any connection to a national anti-doping organisation's own systems, e-signature or workflow for the application itself, and any automatic check against a banned substance list.
- Build classification
- Workflow application
- Rough effort
- 4-6 week first release
- Roles involved
- Head of Performance, Sports scientist, Performance analyst
- Relevant to
- Professional club, Collegiate athletics, Federation / governing body, Women's league
- Systems in play
- Medical and injury records, Spreadsheets, Athlete management systems
- Product framing
- Manage compliance
Questions we get asked
What do we need to have ready before this is useful?
A list of current exemptions and their expiry dates, which is normally what the team doctor already holds, whether in a spreadsheet or a folder of letters. Loading that list is the whole setup: there is no athlete roster integration or medical records connection required to start. The register is only as good as that first import, so it is worth having the doctor check the list for completeness before anything is entered.
Does this replace the medical records system where the exemption letters already live?
No. The medical and injury records system stays the system of record for the clinical detail, and the letters can stay there too. This register only tracks the dates and the renewal status, and holds its own copy of the document as a fallback in case the source system is down when someone needs to check a deadline in a hurry. It is a thin layer for one specific risk, not a second medical record.
Our medical lead already has this on a calendar. Why add another system?
A personal calendar covers one person's judgement about what matters and stops working the day that person is on leave or moves on. The register exists so a renewal deadline is visible to more than one person, with an escalation that fires whether or not anyone remembered to check the calendar that week. If your doctor is confident their calendar has never once let a renewal slip, this tool has less to offer them.
Does it manage the exemption application itself or decide whether one is warranted?
No. It assumes an exemption has already been approved and tracks it from that point: the renewal date, the paperwork attached to it, and who gets told when the date is close. Clinical judgement about whether an athlete needs an exemption, and the application process itself, stay entirely with the medical staff and the relevant anti-doping organisation. Building that judgement into software is not something this tool attempts.
Is this your workflow?
Tell us one sports workflow that still runs on paper, spreadsheets, WhatsApp or an outdated system. We will map it and show you what a simpler product looks like.
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