Home Forums Discussions Feedback and Recommendations Referral section in orders

I and my staff love this because it gets the specialist address and contact information. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a brief section where we can specify what the patient is seeing the specialist for. I know we could use the letter writer, but that is too time consuming. How about adding the plan or instructions section of the not to this form?

Why not use the comment section to the right of the referring doctor to right the reason for the referral?

1. Does filling in the referral help with the closing of the referral loop easier?

2. My physician uses the Comments section to type the reason for the referral. It works well for us.

Thank you and I hope this helps.

Kim

This is a question for Jon. Only because he is following this question. I don't know if there is more than one specialist in his office. If not, maybe he can't address it.

We have a good deal of specialty offices in the area who have anywhere from one to five or more physicians in the group. Using a scale of one to five, we may consider a group of three like this:

Dr. Mary Jones: 5 stars
Dr. John Smith: 3 stars
Dr. Sally Johnson: 0 stars

Not only is Dr. Jones overall better, but I may have a much better rapport with that person.

So, there are a few issues here. One is making a referral. I may want to refer to Dr. Jones. But, there may be many factors including who is on call that day or who has the lightest schedule. Some offices accommodate this. Some don't. I can certainly understand why.

The other issue is a phone consult. I may REALLY prefer Dr. Jones for a variety of reasons. Most practices give you the on call doctor for the day, which makes sense. Some practices will get Dr. Jones on the phone. An added issue to this is if it becomes known in the office that I always ask for Dr. Jones, do the other doctors become resentful? If they are the ones who take the call, are they more likely to be short with me.

Last issue is and, again, Jon can certainly address this although anyone can. I know that sometimes when I call, the doctor can't immediately come to the phone. Say you are doing a procedure. But, if you are just doing a consult, if you can come to the phone at that time, it is much more efficient. Many times the patient is in the room and just finding out if I should use a CT scan or an ultrasound (maybe not a great analogy), would take 30 seconds. Sure, I guess you could get three calls at once, but the nurse could triage them. I always feel like psychologically the specialist tends to feel that we need them more than they need us especially in an area that has a lot of competition. On the flip side, when a specialist calls me back, I immediately take the call one, to be courteous and two, I want to make sure I get the help and not play phone tag.

I sort of know the answers to these questions. But, maybe some specialists can add a few things to the dilemma.

THIS IS A MAJOR HIJACKING OF THIS THREAD. IT APPEARS THE QUESTION HAS BEEN ANSWERED. I CAN EASILY MOVE THIS TO A NEW THREAD OF THE OP FEELS HIS QUESTION HAS BEEN HIJACKED.

Bert, I don't see many question marks in your post but I will take my best guess at what you are asking...
Our staff is trained that I should be notified if a referring doctor... or really any physician... is calling in. They might "buzz" me on my desk phone or send me an instant message that pops-up on my computer screen. I generally take the call, unless I am in the middle of a particularly intense moment with a patient. If I am doing procedures, I am not in the office and will would only see a message between cases, so I would call back after getting the message.

My experience is that specialty groups generally understand that some referring docs have a preference for a particular specialist and do not take offense at this. If I am calling a cardiologist, for example, I ask for my favorite by name. If he is not available, I leave a message (if it can wait) or talk to whomever is taking calls/consults if it is urgent.

I don't know if AC is listening or not. I would submit as a "wishful feature", but I bet they are buried in preparations for MACRA.

It would be really helpful if it would list the ICD-10 code AND description for the referrals. If I refer for Aortic Insufficiency to cardiology, it just says I35.1. My receptionist doesn't know what that is. So, I have to type aortic insufficiency in the comment section, so she can say " eval and treat for aortic insufficiency" If it would list the description that would be really helpful.

I am in the process of reviewing order feature requests for printing orders. I will include this as part of the requirements.

Thanks!

Kim Gaglio
Business Analyst
Amazing Charts

I did try to start using the comment field for referrals. This seems to print out irregularly. For labs and imaging it usually prints, for consults it doesn't. I really don't understand the behavior of the comment field.

I have noted over a long time - if you type your comment next to the order and then click the box it will print the order with the comment. If you check the box before typing the comment then the comment will not print. If I check box, type comment and then go to print and discover it is not showing the comment I just go back and uncheck/check the box again it will work.

Kevin, what Steven is saying is correct; it could be regarded as a bug, but it is actually just the way the program functions.

Pull up a patient's order screen, and use any tab/field you want - including consults. Notice that if you check the box on the left, the order appears in the "Order Queue" to the right. At this point, any comments you write will NOT be recorded; what is in the queue is already set. If you go to another order, and type the comment THEN check the box, at that point the whole thing moves to the queue and the comment will be printed. (Also as Steven says, if the comment doesn't print, simply go back, uncheck the box, the order leaves the queue, then immediately recheck it, and the comment will print).

This all sounds complicated, but the bottom line is simple: you can rely on comments to print if you type them BEFORE clicking the box to their left.

This applies to the diagnoses, as well, and addresses boondoc's issue:
if a diagnosis is included in your note, it will appear in the list at the top of the orders. If you click the diagnosis first, before the order itself, the diagnosis AND its description will appear in your order. (Kim, I think that obviates the need for boondoc's request).