Best Ways to Communicate with Physician Offices to Get The Most Referrals

At ASCs, the majority of your patient volume comes from physician referrals. Thus, keeping strong communication and relationships is vital to keeping your OR volume up. Below, we outline 4 of the best ways to improve your communication with physician offices.

1.  Strengthen relationships 

Although technology can help us be more efficient, relationships are still the key to effective collaboration. Communication is the key.  One study found that primary care physicians are 1.5 times more likely to refer to an ASC that has strong communication. Additionally, 95% of physicians rate the quality of communication as the most essential factor in referring a surgery center.

While much of communication today can be digital and automated, it pays to have direct contact with physician offices. This includes calling to inform physicians of outcomes as well as providing recommendations for follow-up care to both the patient and the referring physician.

2. Make document management easy 

One of the hassles of scheduling a patient at an ASC is getting all the necessary paperwork from the referring physician. You can improve your reputation and relationship with referring physician offices by making the referral process as straightforward as possible. Find a document management system that allows referring physician offices to upload patient charts directly to your ASC. This can save both offices time and make sure that no patient information is lost.

3. Make scheduling easy 

Traditionally, when a physician wanted to refer a patient to your ASC, they had to either make a phone call or send a fax. Today, however, there are digital options to streamline referrals. With a digital booking option, referring physicians can make appointment requests 24/7. This option also ensures that there is an audit trail for scheduling and creates a two-way conversation so that referring physicians know what’s happening as well.

4. Solicit feedback 

When you are communicating effectively with physician offices, you should know it by your increasing OR volumes. However, it’s never a bad idea to solicit feedback directly. Ask physician offices what is working in your processes and what’s not. When referring offices view your ASC as a partner in taking care of patients, they are more likely to continue sending you referrals time and time again.