Strengthening Referral Relationships: Step Three

Develop your protocol.

You’ve built your referral tracking infrastructure and stratified your database.  Now, lay out the expectations for how you and your team will serve your referring physicians: 

  • Call and/or send a personalized thank-you within 24-48 hours.
  • Determine patient referral access time.
  • Review policies/systems for communicating back.
  • Be as service-oriented as possible. 
  • Commit to report turn-around time.
  • Review your discharge communication.  Make sure it meets everyone’s needs.

This is the tough part.  You and your staff must be consistent.  It should be a well-oiled machine.  And if you make a mistake, own it and communicate proactively.