Referral Management

1. Receiving Inbound Referrals

Referring practices can submit patient information through a secure, HIPAA-compliant web form integrated directly into your website.

• Seamless Documentation: Referring offices can securely attach necessary medical records or documentation directly to the submission form.
• EHR Integration: Depending on your practice management system (e.g., Nextech), submitting this form can automatically create a new patient account or link to an existing one, saving the documentation directly to the patient's history tab.
• Note: Insurance verification is not automated through this tool and remains the responsibility of your front office staff.
   
   

2. Navigating the Referral Dashboard

The Referral Dashboard acts as your organized command center for all inbound referrals. Your team can track and update the status of each referral to ensure no patient falls through the cracks.

You can organize patients using the following workflow statuses:

• Added: New referrals that have just entered your system.
• Review: Referrals currently being vetted by your staff (e.g., checking insurance eligibility or provider availability).
• Schedule: Referrals that are approved and ready to book an appointment.
• Patient Contacted: Referrals who have received outreach but haven't booked yet.
• Booked: Patients who have successfully scheduled their visit.
• Declined: Referrals that your practice is unable to accommodate.
   
   

3. Inviting Patients to Self-Schedule

The most powerful feature of the Referral Management tool is the ability to drastically reduce outbound phone calls for your staff.

• Send a Booking Link: Once a referral is approved and moved to the Schedule status, you can send the patient a custom booking link via text message with a single click
• Patient Experience: The patient receives the text and can securely self-schedule their appointment with the required specialist.
   
   
  This booking flow will follow all of your existing NextPatient scheduling rules, including capturing a credit card on file and displaying your cancellation policies.
   
   

Note: Referral Management is a premium add-on module. If you do not currently see this dashboard in your NextPatient portal, please reach out to your Account Manager to discuss adding it to your plan.