How Can Doctors Benefit From Referral System

Background:

A referral system is a powerful tool that helps healthcare providers keep track of the referrals made by their patients. The main objective of a referral system is to improve and streamline communication among the various people involved in the healthcare process – from primary healthcare physicians to super-specialists.

Benefits of Referral System:

1. Prevents Revenue Leakage:

The following facts themselves are enough to highlight the importance of the referral management system.

1. 46% of referrals sent through fax do not result in appointments.

2. 50% of referring physicians are not sure, whether the patient has actually met the specialist.

The benefits of a referral management system are far-reaching. It not only makes your organization more efficient, and better equipped to serve patients, but also stops revenue leakage and makes the organization prosperous.

2. Decreased Lead Times:

Many times, primary healthcare providers refer patients to a specialist. However, studies have shown that up to 65% of these referrals are not required. This unnecessarily puts pressure on the specialists and leads to longer waiting times for patients, who really need to see them.

With an efficient referral system, these unwanted appointments can be avoided.

This would result in shorter waiting time for genuine patients, higher patient satisfaction,

and more patients being attended ultimately.

3. Completing the loop:

When a physician refers a patient to a specialist, he has no way to track whether the patient has met the specialist or not. But with a referral management system, you can track the status of each referral. This creates greater transparency, improved healthcare, and completes the loop of healthcare.

4. Improved Utilization:

Being able to track a patient's progress through a referral system, helps both the provider and staff. With online scheduling, doctors can see more patients, and also the waiting time for patients is reduced. This way it helps both, the patients and the healthcare providers.

With Docterz, the entire process is condensed into a single application, allowing

everyone to access the provider directories.

5. Enhanced Healthcare System:

Most referral management systems are built on value-based care models, which require an integrated communication system to maintain a standard healthcare quality.

Docterz, an app designed by doctors for doctors uses an open API interface

that makes integration easy with the existing EMR technologies.

6. Improved Patient Access:

One more benefit of the referral management system is improved patient access. The system gives the power to patients to schedule appointments as per their availability, and the availability of the specialist. In case they cannot visit the doctor, or it is no critical, a patient may even use an e-consult facility to communicate with the specialists. This strengthens patient retention and prevents referral leakage.

7. Quality Patient Time:

Finally, a referral management system frees a specialist from routine administrative tasks. This gives the specialists additional time to spend with their patients. This quality time spent with the patients goes a long way in improving patient experience, which helps your healthcare practice grow resulting in more referrals and increased revenue.

Conclusion:

In today's time and age, two things are very critical. One the competition is very intense, and two technology is increasing at a fast pace. And to survive, and grow in this situation, it is very critical to make use of the right technology. A good referral management system, like Docterz, helps you improve the overall efficiency of your healthcare practice. It brings in additional transparency, reduces, and thus builds better relations within the network. It also reduces operational inefficiencies and enhances existing processes for healthcare organizations both large and small.