At times, receiving providers may not have their availability listed. In these instances, sending providers can send referrals directly to the receiving provider’s inbox where that provider can then schedule a time that works for them.

This article walks you through that process.

The first steps are very similar to the standard process of scheduling a patient. You merely populate the necessary fields, and then click next. We will briefly review that process, but you can also find a complete tutorial on Scheduling a Patient.

When you login to blockit, you automatically land on the “Schedule a Patient” page. If you are coming from another page, all you have to do is click on the “Schedule a Patient” tab or the large Blockit logo to return to this screen.

Begin filling out the necessary fields by identifying the sending physician from the drop down list. Use typeahead to search for the patient with their first and last name in either order. Then, fill out the rest of the required fields including desired speciality, desired procedure, and network groups. Finally, click “search” to find an available provider.

For some providers, you will notice a lack of openly available times, but you can still send the referral to that provider if there is a “Send to Provider” button. The receiving provider will be sent an email with referral details that they can use to finalize the referral and close the loop (more on this below).

Selecting the “Send to Provider” button will take you to the “Referral Information” screen just like a standard referral. Fill out the necessary information - Referral Orders, ICD-10 Code, and any additional notes - and then click “Next.”

You also have the option to enter the patient’s email address. This will enable the patient to receive an email telling them where they have been referred, in case they need to contact the provider themselves. If the patient's email is listed in the EMR, this field will automatically populate with that email address, so be sure to confirm with the patient that the email is correct!

The final step is the confirmation. Review to make sure that all the information is correct, and then click “confirm.”

All of the necessary information to complete the referral will be sent to the receiving provider’s inbox and the status of the referral will be changed to “Sent to Provider.” The receiving provider then will go through their standard protocol for referrals and can update the referral status as they go along.

Sending providers can check the status of the referral by clicking on the “referrals” tab in the blue toolbar. The time and status fields will be blank until the receiving provider finalizes the details, but a small “Sent to Provider” box will be visible.