Referral Management in Charm helps you to streamline the referral process in your Practice. Primary Care Providers and Specialists can use this feature to track Patient referrals effectively.
The Charm Referral system has two modules, 'Referral Out' and 'Referral In'.
Referral Out enables Primary Care Providers using Charm, to refer Patients to specialists within or outside their Practice. In addition, Providers can also review the reports sent by Specialists and take further clinical actions based on the reports.
Referral In enables the Specialists using Charm to consult the Patients referred by other Providers and send the report back to the referring Providers.
Follow the steps below to refer the Patients to other Specialists.
Create a Referral Request
You can create a Referral Request from the Encounter > Referral or Patient Dashboard > Referral > Referral Out section.
Referral Out from Encounter
Referral Out from the Dashboard
Choose the Referring and Receiving Provider
Choose the Referring Provider and the Specialist to whom the Patient needs to be referred. You can maintain a directory of external specialists under the Settings > Directory > Providers section and search from that list while creating referral requests. Use the 'Add New' link, if the Specialist is not available in the directory. You can also do an internal referral within your Practice.
Enter the Referral Notes
Enter the reason for referral and priority. If required, choose the related Encounter based on the referral made and enter the Referral Notes. You can create templates for referral notes in the Settings > Templates (with Template Type 'Reports') section and use them to write the referral notes quickly. The placeholders ($ variables) given as part of the Report template will be automatically replaced with corresponding values from Patient demographics. You can also use placeholders to pull data from Encounter notes.
Add Diagnoses, Insurance, and Documents
If required, you can add diagnoses and insurance details of the Patient. You can also attach the additional documents (FaceSheet, Chart Notes, Labs, etc.,) to be sent along with the referral.
Preview the Referral Request
Save the Referral Request. Preview the content and make changes if required.
Transmit the Referral Request
Once the referral request gets ready, you can transmit it to the Specialist by Electronic Fax or Direct Messages. eFax and Direct Messages are add-on services that you need to subscribe to. You can also print the referral request or download it as a PDF document.
The 'Sent' and 'Draft' labels in the Referral Out section help you to swiftly distinguish between the transmitted and yet to be transmitted referrals. You can also use the 'Request Status' filter to view only Sent or Draft requests.
Check the Response Status
All the Patient referrals in your Practice get listed under the 'Home > Referrals > Referral Out' section. The Response Status indicates the status of the report from the Specialists. The 'Pending' status denotes that the report is yet to be received from the Specialist.
Upload the Referral Response
Once the Specialist sends the report, the PCP office staff can upload it against the Referral Request already created for the Patient. If you have subscribed for Electronic Fax or Direct Message add-on, you can receive the report directly inside Charm.
To upload the report, go to the Home > Referrals > Referral Out section. Click on the Referral Out created for the Patient and select the 'Response' tab.
Copy and paste the content of the report under the 'Response Notes' section or upload the report as a PDF under the 'Attachment' section.
Review the Referral Response
Whenever a new report gets uploaded, the PCP gets a notification on the Charm Home page. Click on the Referral Report and review the content. After reviewing the report, 'Sign' the report to mark it as reviewed.
Follow the steps below to handle Patients referred to you by other Providers.
Receive the Referral Request
Whenever a referral request gets received, the Referral Coordinator in the Specialist’s office contacts the Patient and schedules an appointment with the Specialist.
If you have registered for Electronic Fax or Direct Message Add-ons in Charm, you can receive the referral requests directly in your Charm account.
Record the Referral Request
The referral Coordinator records the referral request under the 'Home > Referrals > Referral In' section to track them effectively.
If the patient is already registered with your Practice, choose the Patient, Receiving Provider, and Referring Provider. Enter the reason for referral and attach the documents received from the Referring Provider.
If the patient is not registered with your Practice, click the 'Add New' link to register them as a New Patient.
Fill in the New Patient details and click the 'Add' button. Then, proceed to fill in the remaining 'Referral In' fields and click the 'Save' button.
Note: To grant Practice Members access to the 'Add Patient' option in the 'Referral In' section, the Practice Admin should enable 'Demographics' and 'Referrals' role privileges.
Document the Referral Response
A Specialist consults the Patient and documents the report to be sent to the referring Provider.
To enter the report, go to the Home > Referrals > Referral In section. Click on the Referral In created for the Patient and select the 'Response' tab.
Enter the report or use predefined templates. If required, you can also add Diagnoses and attach the documents to be sent to the Referring Provider.
Transmit the Referral Response
Preview the report content and make changes if required. Once the report gets ready, you can transmit it to PCP by using Electronic Fax or Direct Messages. You can also print the report or download it as a PDF document.
