As a home health agency or hospice provider, you likely understand the importance of referrals. Improving your referral process helps you boost your bottom line so you can offer better care to your patients. A referral management process can not only drive more business to your agency but also help you collect money from insurance and other third-party providers for your existing patients.
This process doesn’t apply to transfer of care. The difference between referrals and transfer of care is that physicians drive the former, while the latter is driven by patients who choose to leave their current provider. With patient referral software, you can more easily manage your referrals and improve your level of patient care.
What Does a Good Patient Referral Process Look Like?
Home health care and hospice providers usually fall under specialized care, meaning your patients need a referral from their primary care provider so that insurance will cover your services. Many hospice providers are still recovering from a decline in referrals spurred by the pandemic as patients opted to be treated in their homes.
A good patient referral process can help you generate more high-value referrals because other providers know you will respond with quality care. Follow these steps in your process:
- Review referrals promptly: Designate a person or team to retrieve and review referrals so you can follow up immediately. If the request isn’t clear, have them call the referring provider for clarity.
- Set up appointments at the right time: Assess each case for urgency and set up appointments accordingly.
- Communicate with patients and their families: Prepare a written care plan for patients so they know what to expect at intake.
- Provide a high-value referral response: Respond to the referring physician in a timely manner, indicating what you will do, what you need the physician to do, and what you need the patient to do.
- Communicate: If you decide not to accept the referral or if the patient doesn’t show up for their appointment, notify the referring physician.
Electronic Patient Referral Systems
Patient referral software can streamline the referral management process. An electronic patient referral system makes it easy for your administrative team to check for referrals regularly. Instead of having to check the fax machine and look through multiple different systems, your administrative team can access referrals in one place.
Some patient referral software offers checklists and other tools that allow your team to check each referral for errors and respond to the referring physician. Additionally, many of these platforms are mobile, so your team can check for and respond to referrals more quickly, even when your physical office is closed.
How to Get More Patient Referrals
Once you’re consistently managing your referral process, you can build your reputation as a trusted home health or hospice provider and increase your referrals. Build relationships with physicians and other healthcare providers by visiting facilities or attending industry events.
Implement your standardized process so each referring physician knows what to expect when they refer patients to your agency. Pull data from your patient referral software and note any referral trends. You may notice that most of your referrals come from a certain insurance network or hospital. Use this information to prepare better marketing materials for these referral sources or target new sources.
Top Patient Referral Software Features
A good patient referral system should give you the ability to communicate securely. Many of your referrals may be missing information, and your administrative team should be able to chat with the referral source to ask questions for clarification.
With an electronic referral system, your team can securely message back and forth without compromising patient privacy. If the system integrates with your electronic health records management system, you can easily attach the referral with other patient documents for a complete record. This makes it easier for your caregivers to provide the right care and also helps you submit complete documentation for billing.
Look for software that automates workflows. Some software organizes each referral and flags incorrect and missing information. With these features, your team can quickly respond and get the patient scheduled more quickly.
WorldView’s Patient Referral Software Can Help You Get More Referrals
Improve your intake process with WorldView’s referral management solution. Our software is easy to use, allowing you to fill out referrals and attach the correct documentation with ease. With our solution, you can automate workflows, notify referring sources of missing information, and double-check each referral for faster processing.
Schedule a demo today and start improving your referral management process.
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