A recent article by ECG Management Consultants discusses how health systems can improve their referral management systems.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on ECG's website.
For many health systems, referral leakage may equate to millions of dollars in forgone revenue, as every patient who seeks care elsewhere is a lost revenue opportunity now and potentially into the future. This makes managing referrals to minimize leakage an increasingly important focus area for many organizations.
Symptoms of an underperforming referral management system include:
- The inability to identify in-network or aligned providers.
- Insufficient or unclear information for what patient types or conditions a provider treats.
- Limited to no ability to measure referral management team performance or financial outcomes.
- Ineffective prioritization and workload management.
- Increased authorization-related denials and write-offs.
- Reliance on paper-based or manual communication and tracking systems.
- Identification of patient leakage due to complicated, cumbersome, or unclear referral processes.
News From Our Partners