How to Send Referrals Straight to the Patient

Patients aren’t always ready to book an appointment at the point of care. That’s why we’ve developed a way for sending providers to enable patients to schedule a referral on their own time with our “Send to Patient” feature.

Send to Patient places the responsibility of booking the referral on the patient while also utilizing the convenience of Blockit’s technology. Sending providers can continue to monitor referral analytics and track the patient's progress even though the patient does not book an appointment immediately. This comes in handy when patients are unsure of their schedules or do not feel comfortable committing to a specific time right away. In these instances, sending providers will send referrals directly to the patient’s inbox so the patient can schedule a time with a receiving provider that works for them.

This article will walks you through the process.

The first steps are very similar to the standard process of scheduling a patient. We will briefly review that process, but you can also find a complete tutorial on scheduling a patient here.

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.

Users will notice an option near the provider’s calendar titled “Send to Patient.” When selected, the patient will be sent an email with referral details that they can use to finalize the referral and block time with the receiving provider.

After selecting “Send to Patient,” the user will be taken to the “Referral Information” screen just like a standard referral, but there is one additional feature: a field for the patient’s email address. Fill out the necessary information - Referral Orders, ICD-10 code, and any additional notes - and then confirm with the patient that their email is correct. This step is crucial for making sure the referral information gets sent to the appropriate email address. Once the patient confirms their email address, click “next.”

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 patient’s inbox and the status of the referral will be changed to “Sent to Patient.” The patient then will follow the directions found in their email to complete the referral (more on this below).

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 referral, but a small “Sent to Patient” box will be visible for the sending provider.

When the referral has been finalized, the time and status will be filled in like so:

From the Patient’s Perspective

Immediately after the sending provider confirms the referral, the patient will receive an email with clear instructions and a link to schedule an appointment time. 

The patient will then follow the link to referral screen, which is broken up into two sections:

Scheduling Details Page
Select an Appointment
Confirm Your Appointment.

The patient will follow the directions to schedule their appointment.

In the “Scheduling Details” screen, patients will confirm the information is correct and select “Schedule Appointment.”

Patients will then be taken to the “Choose an Appointment” screen, where they can book a specific time in the provider’s calendar.

Lastly, patients will review their selection and confirm the appointment.

After the patient follows these steps, the receiving provider will be notified and follow their standard protocol for finalizing referrals.

Additionally using the same scheduling link from the original email notification, patients will be able to view their appointment details and, if enabled, patient will be able to cancel and reschedule their appointment.