Referral Norms
Bottom Line
Prescribers, clinicians and staff who provide services where Connect Care is the record of care must order, triage and schedule any related referrals within Connect Care.
Prescribers serving a department using Connect Care as its record of care must receive referrals to that department using Connect Care tools.
Prescribers serving a department using Connect Care as its record of care must send referrals to other departments, including ones outside Connect Care, using Connect Care ordering processes.
"Mixed context" prescribers (some clinical activity where Connect Care is the record of care and other activity where Connect Care is not the record of care) will use external systems to send or receive referrals when working in their "external" capacity on referral activities covered by a different record of care.
Any referral using Connect Care must be processed using Closed Loop Referral Management tools provided within the Connect Care clinical information system. These enhance patient safety by tracking referral progress through all stages from request to fulfillment, while notifying stakeholders of any delays or deficiencies. They avoid risks and inefficiencies associated with fax or other untethered tools.
The integrity of closed loop referrals depends upon choice of and correct use of referral workflows for destinations that are "internal" (service provider using Connect Care) versus "outgoing" (external service provider not using Connect Care as record of care).
Requests for exceptions to Connect Care referral norms require review and approval by the Connect Care Executive Committee.
Norms
Referral Orders
All referrals originating in Connect Care must be placed as a referral order, regardless of whether the service provider or program is internal or external to Connect Care. This ensures that a record of the referral exists in the legal record of care.
Referrals must not be managed with letters generated in the Connect Care communications activity. Any necessary clinical comment or detail can be added using the fields available within a referral order.
Referral Intake
Connect Care referral workflows will continue to accommodate current intake processes from prescribers not using Connect Care as the record of care.
Referral Management
All received referrals, whether from sources internal or external to Connect Care, must be managed using triage, scheduling, communication and other referral tools provided by Connect Care.
Referral Confirmation
All referral workflows must include provision for the receipt and review of acknowledgement receipts within 7 days of initiation of a referral request.
Referral Competence
Prescribers and staff (including non-AHS Medical Office Assistants) are required to complete appropriate training to gain access to referral management tools.