Empower Referring Doctors To Better Serve Their Patients

Empower Referring Doctors with Referral Portal

Empower Referring Doctors To Better Serve Their Patients

01:59 15 March in Practice Solutions by Sophrona Management

The Common Patient Referral Experience

Recently, I had an experience with my son’s pediatrician. In need of an appointment outside of our regular doctor, I called and asked the pediatrician who they would recommend. I was given the name of a specialty doctor with no other information. I was left on my own.

From a patient perspective, the above scenario is quite common.

But as a working parent, time is everything. It’s difficult to stop and make a phone call, only to make another call, that may or may not result in an appointment.

How different would my experience have been if my pediatrician was able to schedule the appointment I needed for me?

Creating a Proactive Referral Strategy to Empower Referring Doctors

As healthcare providers, we can make it easier for patients by focusing on strategies to improve the referral process and empower referring doctors.

For many eye care practices, referrals flow from three primary sources: word of mouth, referring doctors and insurance. Referring doctors are their own small universe of community optometrists, co-managing doctors, and primary care providers. Referrals are one of the best ways to generate new patients consistently, yet many practices struggle to put a proactive strategy in place. For practices that do have a referral process in place, tapping into specialty providers may not be a primary focus.

Now it can be.

Sophrona’s Referral Portal is more than a real-time dashboard for sending, tracking and follow up reporting; it is an efficient marketing tool that allows your practice to extend and grow your referral network.

When utilized as a turnkey solution, practices can elevate the referral process, not only for doctors who are already referring, but also for those with whom you don’t currently have a relationship.

Referral Portal provides a competitive advantage.

Approaching new providers for referrals doesn’t have to be difficult. Creating a more efficient referral process can empower referring doctors by providing more convenience and transparency from the moment a patient is referred.

Referral Portal helps referring doctors to better serve their patients. With the ability to schedule directly or submit e-referrals, track progress and receive timely follow up reporting, Referral Portal is engaging for your referring doctors and their patients.

If your practice is ready to increase referrals, Sophrona can help.

Set a New Standard for the Patient Referral Experience

Revisiting the scenario we discussed earlier, imagine how different the experience is for the pediatric practice that wants to help their patients. Now, you have equipped the pediatric practice to better serve their patients by making it easy to schedule referral appointments directly with you. No more extra steps for the patient. No more referrals slipping through the cracks. The pediatrician looks great – the office was able to help the patient who called in.

A higher standard of coordinated care has been set before the patient is seen by your office. Utilizing the Referral Portal, the appointment was scheduled for the patient and the status of the appointment can be tracked. Once the visit is concluded, the pediatrician receives a follow up report and the referral loop is closed.

Providing concierge-like care is beneficial for patients and referring providers. Improving the patient referral experience will empower referring doctors and create efficiency between your practice and theirs.

Here are 3 things we can do this week to help you analyze your current referral process.

1. Gap Analysis | During a 30-minute call with our team, we will ask questions about your referral process. The purpose is to compare the procedure your practice currently uses and determine what referral goals you have for the next year.

2. Analyze referral data to identify potential opportunities | Run a referral report for the last 1 to 12 months. This helps us put a number to how many referrals your practice received last year, and which doctors you received the most referrals from. If you aren’t doing so already, benchmark the data so that you can track if your referrals are increasing, decreasing or staying the same.

3. Survey Referring Doctors | The Sophrona team has created a survey which can be customized with your branding. It lets your referring doctors know that you are considering providing them with a new portal that would allow both of your practices to improve collaboration of care. Along with a detailed description of the Referral Portal, it concludes with a brief survey asking whether the referring doctor would utilize this technology if provided to them.

Sophrona’s Referral Portal can help your practice implement a proactive referral strategy to grow your referral network.

Maximize your relationship with the providers in your community. Contact us today to learn more about the Referral Portal and how implementing an efficient marketing tool can help your practice increase referrals.

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Lisa Rudolph | Sophrona Sales Executive

Empower Referring Doctors To Better Serve Their Patients