Referral management is one of the most critical processes in the healthcare industry. A referral management system can help a healthcare organization improve its overall performance, customer satisfaction, staff efficiency, and resource allocation.
Most healthcare facilities require multitasking from their staff to keep operations running smoothly. With that said, a single individual can't handle all the tasks involved in managing referrals and remain productive and efficient. This is where automation can help.
What is Referral Management in Healthcare?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a referral is ‘the act of referring.’ In healthcare, referral management is a process involving coordination between healthcare providers to establish an effective and efficient treatment plan for patients who need specialized care or follow-up.
How Does Referral Management Work in Healthcare?
Patients are referred to different healthcare facilities for a variety of reasons and treatment plans, including but not limited to the following:
1. Consultation – The procedure of consulting with a specialist or a professional on a specific topic or situation.
2. Diagnosis – The procedure of identifying and describing a patient’s ailment.
3. Treatment – The procedures performed by a healthcare provider to help patients get well.
4. Follow-up Care – The procedure of monitoring the progress and recovery of patients under treatment.
5. Second Opinion – The procedure of getting another professional’s opinion to help form a more accurate diagnosis.
Healthcare organizations are tasked to maintain complete and up-to-date records of patients who have been referred due to the importance of follow-up care. The coordination involved in referral management is vital to an organization’s success.
The procedures involved in referral management vary according to the type of hospital or clinic. There are usually three stages of referral management processes: patient intake, treatment coordination, and follow-up care.
With many patients in need of care and not enough healthcare providers to manage all the referrals, healthcare organizations need automation tools to help them with their referral management tasks.
Automation in Referral Management in Healthcare
Due to the number of patients and providers, referral management processes are very time-consuming and complex. There is a high risk for errors and delays that could affect patients' overall quality of care.
Hospitals and medical clinics have widely adopted automation software to make these processes more efficient.
Why Automate Referral Management in Healthcare?
Referral Management Automation Saves Costs
Referral management requires tracking, follow-up calls, and response letters. It also involves the collaboration of different departments within the healthcare facility. All of this takes a great deal of time and effort, which means it’s expensive.
Between the amount of time spent on referrals and the cost of staff, a healthcare facility loses a significant amount of money every year. By automating referral management, the organization can significantly reduce both time and cost.
It Increases the Chances of Finding the Right Provider
Every day, a significant challenge for healthcare facilities is finding the perfect specialist or doctor, which you ideally want to avoid. For that reason, it would be beneficial to automate the referral management process.
With automation, staff can see referral information for all types of specialists and doctors in one place. It allows them to make referrals based on the available information about specialist or doctor performance, which helps the organization avoid finding the wrong specialist or doctor for their patients.
It Improves Staff Communication and Reduce Communication Redundancies
One of the main concerns that healthcare organizations have concerns about is both staff communication and inefficient communication. Referral management automation takes care of both these problems.
It allows staff members to communicate with other departments such as finance, administration, and customer service faster and more efficiently. The system manages all the essential information for that particular case, and multiple staff members can access this information at any time.
This reduces the need for redundant communication, which speeds up work, improves efficiency, and saves staff members from repeating the same information.
Referral Management Automation also Improves Patient Communication.
In the current healthcare system, patients often receive conflicting or inconsistent information from different departments. This makes it difficult for them to get a clear and direct direction on the treatment they need.
Automation invokes better communication that flows from one department to another. It ensures patients receive the best possible care by reducing the number of red tape or unnecessary delays.
Close the Loop with FloatCare
With FloatCare, your healthcare organization can manage referrals and automate the referral management process. Our system is adaptable to an organization of any size, including small, medium, and large organizations. FloatCare is flexible and user-friendly for organizations to integrate into their existing systems.
With FloatCare, your healthcare organization can:
1. Track all Patient Visits. • Increase Consult report Compliance
2. Increase patient follow-through. Reduce time to treatment
Join the thousands of other businesses & medical professionals that are claiming back time through the tools FloatCare has to offer.
