The Referral Hub in CareStack provides a convenient platform for practices to track incoming referrals. Easily accessible from the Front Office Dashboard, the Referral Hub hosts referrals coming in through the Referral Form embedded in your practice website. This offers practices the capability to incorporate the referred patient as a new patient, integrate with an existing patient record, and effortlessly schedule appointments.
Topics Covered
- Access and Manage Referral Hub
- Customize Referral Status
- Manage Incoming Referrals
- Create New Referral
- Manage Permissions
Note: The Referral Hub feature is available upon request. Users can email support@carestack.com to have it enabled. |
Access Referral Hub
Dive deep with this detailed walkthrough video.
To access the Referral Hub,
- Click Referral Hub (Ref. Hub) from the Dashboard.
- To manage referrals, select the Referrals tab.
| Note: If you are unable to see any items listed, ensure that the Filters are not applied on any of the columns. |
Let's look at the columns that can be filtered.
- Referral: The name, age, DOB, and contact number of the patient.
- Location: The location to which the patient was referred.
- Referral Date: The date on which the patient was referred.
- Referral Type: Whether the referral is Internal or External.
- Referred By: Name of the provider who referred the patient.
- Tx Type: The type of treatment for which they were referred.
- Source: The medium from which the referral form was filled.
- Status: The status in which the referral is currently at.
- Last Engaged: The list of patients who have not received a follow-up in the last (x) days.
- Notes: Additional notes, if any.
| Tip: Enter a specific count of days to filter patients who have not received a follow-up. |
The three-dot menu next to the Accept button will provide you with the following options:
- Add Engagement: Update the recent engagement details.
- Upload Documents: If the documents were not included when the form was initially filled, they can be subsequently appended to the referral from this window.
- Decline Referral: Select this option to reject the referral.
| Note: The declined referrals will be moved to the Declined Tab. |
- The Referral forms that get filled out will be automatically listed in the Referrals tab for further action.
You can move the entries listed in the Referrals tab to the Accepted, Declined, or Completed tabs based on the evaluation of the case.
To communicate with the referral (patient),
- If click-to-call is enabled and the phone number is added for the patient,
- You can click the call icon to place a call.
- If Communication Hub is enabled and an email/phone number is added for the patient,
- You can click the text message icon to send a message.
- You can click the email icon to send an email.
- You can click the text message icon to send a message.
To communicate with the referral provider,
- If click-to-call is enabled and the phone number is added for the referral provider,
- You can click the call icon to place a call.
- If Communication Hub is enabled, and an email is added for the referral provider,
- You can click the email icon to send an email.
- If email is added and the referral provider is an existing referral provider in the system,
- You can click the text message icon to open the provider chat.
On the Accepted tab:
- You can click View Appointments on a referral line item with a booked appointment to navigate to the corresponding appointment slide-out, where you can view more details.
- For referrals where an appointment is not booked, click Book Appointment to navigate to the Scheduler and make the booking as preferred.
- Click the three-dot menu and click Mark as Completed to transfer the referral to the Completed tab.
- Click Send Tx Report to send treatment updates directly to the referring provider for accepted referrals, with a complete history showing sender, location, date, and attached documents.
- Note: You cannot send treatment report once it is marked as completed.
On the Declined tab:
- You can view all rejected referrals.
- The Reason for Decline column shows the reasons why the referral was rejected.
- Click the three-dot menu and click Move to Pending Queue to transfer the declined referral back to the Referrals tab.
On the Completed tab, you can view all completed referrals.
- Click the View Referral Documents icon to view the referral documents.
Referral Document
Let's look at the functionalities of the Referral Document.
- You can click the View Referral Documents icon in the Referrals, Accepted, Declined and Completed tabs to view the relevant documents.
- A Referral Patient documents slide-out will appear with the Referral Documents tab selected by default.
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Select the Referral Form tab to view the refer-in form.
- Click Download Form to download the form to your system.
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Select the Attachments tab to view the images or documents, if any.
- Click Upload to add documents or images.
- Click the X on the intended item to remove the attached image or document
- Select the Attachment(s) to View or Print.
| Tip: To print all attachments, checkmark the Select All checkbox. |
- Once you click Print, the attachment(s) will open in a new tab.
- You can click 'Save as PDF' to download it in a PDF format.
- Or, click print to take a printout of the attachment(s).
| Note: If you Accept a referral that has attachments or if you upload attachments to an Accepted referral, they will appear on the Documents page of the corresponding patient with a status of Completed. |
Add Customize Referral Status
Watch this video for a concise summary.
To add customized referral statuses:
- Click Customize Status on the top right.
The Customize Status modal will appear with non-editable statuses for Pending, Accepted, Declined, and Completed.
To create a new status:
- Click Add New Status.
- You can create up to 10 statuses with a character limit of 10 for each.
- To edit an existing status, click the pencil icon next to the desired status to edit.
- You can set the Color Code or rename the status as needed.
- Click the checkmark to save the changes.
To download the list of Referrals as an Excel sheet:
- Click Export as CSV.
Manage Incoming Referrals
Explore this video for a thorough walkthrough.
To view the details of any Incoming/Inbound Referrals:
- Select the intended referral.
- A slide-out with Referral Details on the left-hand side and Referral Engagement, Provider Chat, and Referral Documents sections on the right-hand side will appear.
- Users can either Link Existing Patient or Create Patient & Book Appointment.
- Click the pencil icon to edit the details, including the Patient Name, as needed.
- Click Save.
To update the status of the referral:
- Select the suitable status from the Referral Status drop-down.
- You can choose a custom-built status based on your practice's needs.
To add a new engagement,
- Select the Referral Engagement tab.
- Click + Add Engagement.
On the Add New Engagement modal that appears,
- Select the Contacted date.
- Select the mode of communication (Call, Text, or Email).
- Click Update to add a new engagement.
You will see the entire progress, with the newest entry below and its engagement history on the right.
- Utilize the Call, Text, and Email options to communicate with the referral patient.
- Utilize the Provider Chat section to chat with the provider.
| Note: The Provider Chat will only be available if the Referral Provider has portal access. |
To create the referral as a new patient:
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Click Create Patient & Book Appointment.
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The created patient will be automatically subscribed for:
- Text & Voice, if the phone number is entered
- Email Notifications, Marketing Emails, Enable Portal Notifications & Review/Survey Request, if email is entered
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The created patient will be automatically subscribed for:
- A toast notification will appear on the top right stating, 'Patient Created Successfully'.
- You will be taken to the Scheduler to select a slot for the patient's appointment.
- The referral will be moved to the Accepted tab.
To link a referral patient to an existing patient:
- Click the Link Existing Patient button.
- Select the Existing Patient from the drop-down.
| Note: If the patients do not match, you can create a new patient by clicking the Create Patient & Book Appointment link, upon which the referral will be created as a new patient, and a message will appear on the top-right stating 'Patient Created Successfully'. |
Once the patient is selected, you can:
- Click Link Patient & Go Back to link the patient and return to the Referral details slide-out.
- Click Accept & Book Appointment.
- You will be taken to the Scheduler to select a slot for the patient's appointment.
- The referral will be moved to the Accepted tab.
Create New Referral
Watch this video for a concise summary.
Let's look at another scenario where you receive a referral from other sources, like email or PDF, or when a patient comes in with a physical referral form.
To manually create a referral entry:
- Click Create New Referral on the top right.
- Enter the details in the Create New Referral slide-out.
- Please remember that all the fields marked with red asterisks must be filled out without exception.
- If you have selected Referral Provider as the Referral Source, you have the option to 'Add New Referral Provider' from this slide-out itself.
- Add any Attachments as needed.
- Drag and drop files into the box. Or,
- Click Browse to locate and upload files from your system.
| Tip: You can upload attachments with a file size up to 20 MB. |
- Click Create.
- The new referral will be listed under the Referrals tab for practices to track and respond.
Manage Permissions
Watch this video for a quick overview.
To enable Permissions for Referral Hub,
- Navigate to the System Menu > select Practice Settings > Administration > Profiles.
- Click Manage Permissions for the intended profile.
- Select Referrals.
- Under Referral Hub, select the View Referrals, Create/Edit Referrals, Customize Referral Statuses, and Send Referral Chat Messages permissions, as needed.
- Click Save.
On the Confirm Action modal that appears, click Yes to proceed.
- A toast notification appears stating, 'Profile updated successfully'.
Practices can use this elaborate guide to learn everything about Referral Hub and manage referrals hassle-free.
Click here to explore the complete list of permissions and their descriptions.