Increasing Communication with Referring Providers to Enhance Patient-Centered Care

Abstract

After implementation of a new electronic medical record (EMR) in a large ambulatory surgery clinic, it was noted by the surgeons that referring provider information was lacking in the patient record, preventing after visit auto-routing of clinic notes and resulting in inferior care coordination. Objective: The aim of this project was to identify barriers and implement changes to the current intake process at the time of scheduling and registration. Identifying the referring provider at the time of scheduling an appointment and prior to the clinic visit was expected to promote an increase in outgoing referring provider communication for patients seen in the ambulatory surgery clinic.