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 the Closed Loop Referral Management tools provided within the Connect Care clinical information system.
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 context or detail can be added to 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 Competence
Prescribers and staff (including non-AHS Medical Office Assistants) are required to complete appropriate training to gain access to referral management tools.
More Information
Resources
The following resources are intended to guide referral workflows in Connect Care: