Assign Each Referrer a Single Contact Person
Problem:
Too few referrals are made, and when they are, too few end
in an admission.
Solution:
Assign one contact person to each referral source to ensure
that the needs of the referral source are being met.
Featured Stories
Boston Public Health Commission in Mattapan,
Massachusetts increased admissions by 49 percent to 8.4
admissions per month by training staff on outreach
strategies and assigning them to specific agencies to do
outpatient outreach.
SSTAR in Fall River, Massachusetts increased the daily census on its Dual Diagnosis Services
Unit from 13.86 to 15.86 by streamlining the process for admission for five priority hospitals that
were making appropriate referrals and giving them access to a telephone “hotline” that the
admissions clerk answered on a portable phone which she kept accessible at all times. For
further information, see the SSTAR case study.
Lessons Learned
- Acknowledge all referrals. Referrers need to be reminded about your services. One way
is to send a thank you note.
- Keep them informed about “their” client to the extent that confidentiality is not broken.
- Visit referrers periodically and ask, “What’s it like to refer a client to us?”
Tracking Measures
Cycle Measure
Percentage of referred clients who
were admitted
Data Collection Forms
ActionSteps
Plan
- 1. Select one referral source.
- 2. Select one person to be the primary contact for this referral source.
- 3. Collect baseline data for two weeks to track the percentage of referred
clients who are admitted.
Do
- 4. Make contact with the referrer and let them know how to reach you.
- 5. Find out more about the needs of the referral source so that you can help
meet these needs.
- 6. Test this change for the next two weeks.
- 7. Track the percentage of clients referred by the selected referral source who
are admitted.
Study
- 8. Check the fidelity of the change. Was the change implemented as planned?
- 9. Evaluate the change:
- How did the referral source respond to having a single contact
person?
- Was the selected contact person a good match for the referral
source?
- Did the percentage of referred clients who were admitted increase?
- Did the number of referrals from the selected referrer increase?
Act
- 10. If this change was an improvement:
- Adopt this change or adapt it for more improvement and re-test it with
the same referral source.
- Expand the use of this process to other referral sources.
- Document the processes that resulted in an improvement so that you
can continue to use them efficiently.
- Test other, related promising practices that apply to your setting.
If this change was not an improvement and you can’t make it work, abandon this
practice and test other promising practices that might be more successful in your
setting.
More Stories
Connecticut Renaissance in Norwalk, Connecticut increased outpatient admissions by 83.3
percent by providing their top three referral sources with information about a special walk-in
admissions process. The program director made personal communications to connect with their
major referral sources.
Vanguard Services in Arlington, Virginia increased monthly outpatient admissions by 112
percent by establishing relationships with various referral sources, such as Employee
Assistance Professionals, and conducting site visits.