Patients will receive contact from the clinic within a few minutes, rather than days later.
In early usage, the proportion of referrals that ultimately resulted in scheduled outpatient visits increased by 4.8 times.
New York, October 13th / PRNewswire / -- Medsender Today, we are launching Agentic Referral Management, a software that can process incoming referrals in 30 seconds, then contact each patient via text message and email, and follow up by phone if necessary. Within minutes, more of these referrals are converted into scheduled appointments. Clinics only need to pay for the appointments that are ultimately confirmed. At the first store to implement this system, Anne Arundel Dermatology, the percentage of referrals converted into scheduled appointments increased from 10% to 48% in the first month, without any need to hire additional staff.
For most specialty clinics, referrals are the largest source of new patients, but many of these referrals ultimately do not make it into the scheduling process. The problem lies in the administrative procedures, rather than the clinical aspects. Referrals usually arrive via fax or documents; staff members have to open them first, then manually enter the information into the electronic medical record system ( EHR ), after which they wait in a queue until someone has time to call the patient. Each handover adds an extra day of waiting time, and the longer patients wait for the clinic to get in touch, the less likely it is that they will be called or able to make an appointment. For clinics where the number of referrals is increasing faster than the number of staff members, the issue is not a sudden loss of demand, but rather a loss of the ability to handle that demand. Over time, referring doctors begin to send patients elsewhere.
Agentic Referral Management How it works
- The software will read each incoming referral and extract the patient's demographic information, insurance details, referring doctor, and reason for the visit.
- Within a few minutes of the referral arrival, the system will send a text message to the patient containing a reservation link, followed by an email, and then a phone call will be made.
- Once the patient completes the appointment, the referral information will be automatically recorded in their EHR record, without the need for manual entry. The referring doctor can monitor the referral status at any time and receive a summary after the visit.
- Only in exceptional circumstances, such as when the patient does not respond, will it be handled by the clinic staff.
Why it is effective
A higher conversion rate is driven by two factors. The first is speed. Patients who are contacted within a few minutes after being referred still expect further communication from the clinic; however, a week later, many have already made appointments elsewhere or simply given up.
Secondly, there is the convenience factor. Each text message and email contains a reservation link, allowing patients to schedule their appointments using their mobile phones at 9 p.m., without having to leave voice messages repeatedly with the front desk during working hours. Patients who do not complete their reservations will receive a call.
Medsender can be used in conjunction with any EHR system, therefore clinics do not need to replace their existing systems. Implementation usually takes two to four weeks, and there is no need to change the way referral offices send referrals.
“This task is already being done in every clinic, but it has always been done manually,” said Zain Qayyum, the founder and co-CEO of Medsender. “Someone opens the fax, enters the patient information into the system, and then starts dialing and leaving voice messages. This can take a whole day, sometimes even three days. The software can complete the same task in just a few minutes. What the team sees is a scheduled outpatient appointment, not a pile of tasks to be processed; and for the few cases that do require manual intervention, there are people to handle them.”
Early results
Anne Arundel Dermatology has 325 healthcare providers at 110 locations. Its first Agentic Referral Management store is still in the early deployment phase. In the first month, without any changes to the staffing, the referral conversion rate increased from 10% to 48%, which is 4.8 times higher than before.
Anne Arundel Dermatology Director of Operational Support Brittany Dimitri stated: "We have managed to include more referred patients in the scheduling process without adding any new staff to accomplish this task. My coordinators focus their time on those referrals that truly require manual processing, rather than on those that do not."
Availability
Agentic Referral Management is now available to various specialized clinics, including dermatology, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, and multi-specialty groups. Clinics can schedule a 30-minute demonstration at medsender.com.
About Medsender
Medsender helps medical institutions achieve growth without increasing staff. It is an integrated system that can automatically process each incoming fax, convert referrals into scheduled appointments through Agentic Referral Management, handle patient calls, and assist clinics in regaining lost patients. Clinics can have visual control over the entire process from the first fax to the final appointment, with all content synchronized with their EHR. Medsender complies with HIPAA requirements and SOC 2 Type II standards, and can be directly integrated with ModMed EMA, athenaOne, NextGen, AdvancedMD, EZDERM, Tebra, as well as dozens of other EHR platforms. Over 1000 clinics are using Medsender to manage their front desk workflows. For more information, please visit medsender.com.
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