Having a strong referral network is imperative for your medical practice success. For many practices, a referral is a primary source of getting new patients. Establishing and maintaining connections with physicians is essential for creating a strong referral network and getting a steady patient inflow. Physicians and other healthcare providers remain the important sources of patient acquisition.
It is difficult for small practices to establish referral relationships. And, longevity and effective relationships are equally important when it comes to retaining referrals. So, how do you strengthen and protect the relationship for the long term? Here’re a few ways through which a medical practice can successfully establish and strengthen referral relationships:
Create a plan and work around. Physicians must have patience, and confidence in their plan, and should properly execute it. Practices expect immediate results from their efforts, remember establishing a referral network is a process, but not an event. Continuity and frequency are important for program success. Most practices discontinue their referral-building program before they see results.
Practices should embrace interoperability, meaning being able to share information digitally across the healthcare continuum to improve efficiencies and deliver better outcomes and patient care. The ideal solution is a cloud-based EHR solution, which can revolutionize the procedures and streamlines care coordination. Your referral network will value this and more likely to send and receive information through the solution. Not to mention, EHR solution offers numerous ways to improve collaboration across the healthcare facility.
Communicating with your referrers on a regular basis will increase the quality of patient care and reinforce your relationship with referrers. Let your patients know you are taking every step to provide quality patient care so that it will make more likely for patients to seek you out.
Building patient volume will vary greatly based on your specialty. Medical practices with certain specializations need to target physicians with those specialties.
Contact new physicians in your area. Call or write a personal welcome letter. Tell about your practice and ask for referrals. Invite new physicians as guests and develop a plan to contact them.
A face-to-face meeting with referrals makes a big difference; enhancing the relationship with the physician counts. Interacting with the referral physicians can impact the number of referrals. Ultimately, timely appointments and appropriate communication can improve your practice's performance.
Make your practice known and available. Join any local medical societies and professional societies so that you can get any referrals. Keep track of where your greatest return comes from. Establish a network with other healthcare providers, including dentists and dermatologists, so that they can be your source of referrals.
Re-evaluating your referrals can help you learn about the changes that occur in practices. The best way to make the referral process easy is by embracing EHR technology. EHR allows you to easily communicate with your referral network. Also, you can attach a patient’s file and send out detailed medical information securely. Some systems even allow you to communicate in real-time with your referral provider.
This is the most important tactic that physicians often overlook. When you refer a patient or when someone refers a patient to you, it is always important to follow-up. It is a good idea to get in touch to ensure that a patient is receiving the best care possible. You can follow-up either through an email, a phone call, or an in-person meeting. Today, you can use a referral management software solution to track your referrals and easily communicate with providers.
Hope this guide has given you some tips for establishing and strengthening your referral relationships.
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