Referrals to other dental providers within the same group dental office can help patient care and practice efficiency. In this blog post we’re going to look at a few of the benefits and ways to optimize these internal referrals.
5 Tips for optimizing internal referrals
Here are 5 tips for optimizing internal referrals.
1. Clear communication.
It’s important to have a standardized referral protocol within the practice. Maybe you use a referral form or a digital autonote or a feature of the practice management software to provide information about the patient’s needs.
When you have the same practice management software, you may be able to save and share data in the practice management software.
But it’s important to be coordinated. And to know where to find that information between providers.
2. Educate patients on why the referral is needed
Educate patients on why the referral is needed, and then emphasize the continuity of care. This is another service still offered within the group.
To make this transition easier, a personalized introduction is helpful to give a warm handoff from one provider to another.
Also good follow-up is important to check in after the specialist appointment to maintain the rapport and address any concerns.
Track your reactivation efforts
- Collaboration can help the patient feel more comfortable since they’re still in the same practice and are not having to go through the hassle of finding a new provider.
- Which means the dental group practice can offer better case collaboration since more things can happen in real time with better diagnosis and treatment plans.
- This also has a benefit for scheduling when there can become better familiarity with shared systems of scheduling and treatment processes among the different providers.
- This can be an opportunity for teamwork and professional growth, since it enhances the culture of shared expertise.
- It can also help patient loyalty because patients see these practices being very comprehensive with a well-coordinated team.
- Which increases the likelihood of staying long term.
- So all of these can help positive experiences. Some other ideas for staff collaboration and training:
3. Have regular team meetings
Make sure all the staff understand their roles and what the strengths of each provider are and what services each specialist provides.
It’s good to have regular team meetings to discuss cases and share insights of how different specialists can help.
Cross training the staff so the front office staff can explain the benefits of different providers is important. As is training them to be able to answer patient questions as they come up.
This will help build a referral culture so the referrals become a part of the comprehensive care that your patients receive.
4. Educate patients on the value of internal referrals
For patient education using simple language is important so patients can clearly understand the specific treatments.
It may help to have good visual communications, such as posters or brochures highlighting the different specialties and services, and also some testimonials from patients.
You can also use your website or social media to help educate the patients about different services and providers.
Videos about different providers can help share that knowledge.
5. Simplify the referral process
Simplifying the referral process is always a good idea. If you can simplify scheduling so that patients can see different providers and have fewer visits overall.
Some of the information could be shared among providers so less appointments are needed. And also make it so that it’s easy for the front desk to book appointments across different areas of the practice.
It’s good to continue highlighting the different specialties and office displays, email campaigns, newsletters.
You can track the referral data to see what’s working and what’s not.
Review these things periodically to evaluate the outcomes and refine strategies.
Patient-centered strategies for internal referrals in group practices
The patient-centered strategies include focusing on the continuity of care and the convenience and consistency of having all their needs met in one location more.
You can also look at ways to help personalize the experience.
If someone had an orthodontic consult, are they also interested in whitening? Or if someone has veneers, do they also need a perio consult for gingival recontouring?
You can also look at ways to combine services with different providers.
And providers can collaborate as well.
Providers can do in-house case reviews to help look over different opportunities to work together and how it enhances patient care.
They can use internal meetings to make sure all team members are familiar with all the range of services and can also proactively look at referrals and see what’s working, what’s not, and look for opportunities where care could be coordinated.
Internal referrals in group dental practices
By continually promoting the communication, the patient education, reviewing the internal systems, you can really help improve the patient experience by looking at the internal referrals.