Creating outgoing referrals

You can create outgoing (or external) referrals to providers outside of your clinic.

You can initiate an referral from an encounter, letter, form, or Referrals dashboard. If you create a referral from a letter or form, it is attached to the referral to provide the required information about the patient and the reason for the referral.

The system saves the referral in the Referrals section of the patient’s chart and the Referrals dashboard (list). From there, you and your clinic admin can perform any outstanding tasks associated with the referral before sending it.

You can also create internal referrals to a provider within your clinic (see Creating internal referrals).

In Ontario, you can send referrals through Ocean eReferrals directly from the CHR, streamlining communication with other healthcare providers and ensuring continuity of care.

Steps

1. Create an outgoing referral:

From the Letters section of a patient chart, create and save the letter, and click Referral > Outgoing. Refer to Creating letters from the patient chart.
From the Forms section of a patient chart, create and save the form, and click Referral > Outgoing. Refer to Using electronic forms.
From the Referrals section of a patient chart, click +New Letter. Create and save the letter and click Referral > Outgoing.
From an encounter, in the Referrals section, click +Add Letter, modify the content of the referral letter and click Referral > Outgoing.
📌Note: The system adds the encounter notes to the top of the letter, and the letter is attached to the outgoing referral.

From an encounter, in the Attachment section, click + Add Form, complete the form and click Referral > Outgoing.
From an encounter, in the Referrals section, or click + Add Referral > Outgoing.
📌Note: The encounter notes are attached to the referral and cannot be modified.
From the Referrals dashboard, click +New referral > Outgoing.

The New Referral - Outgoing window opens.

2. Complete or modify the referral using the below table:

Field	Description
Reason for Referral	If you created a referral from a letter, the letter title appears here by default. If you create a referral from a form, the form name appears here by default. If you create a referral from an encounter, the presenting issue appears here by default. If you create a referral from the Referrals dashboard, Consultation appears by default. Alternatively, you can delete the default reason and type a different reason.
Date Added	Defaults to today's date. To change it, click the date and select a new one from the calendar.
Ordering Provider	If you create the referral from the patient’s chart or encounter, it defaults to you. To change the referring provider, click the name and select a new one from the list. If you create the referral from the Referrals dashboard, click No Provider Selected and select a provider from the list.
Service Provider	Click No Provider Selected and search for the provider from your Contacts or click +New provider to add a new provider. If you added a referral letter and a recipient, the name appears here. To change the provider, click the X to the right of their name and search for or add a different one. 💡 Tip: You can leave this field blank, and your admin staff can add the provider based on the type of referral.
Patient Information	If you create the referral from the patient chart, it defaults to the patient’s details. If you create the referral from the Referrals dashboard, click to search for and select an existing patient. Or add a new patient.
Attachments	If you create a referral from a letter, the letter is the attachment. If you create a referral from a form, the form is the attachment. If you create a referral from an encounter, the encounter notes is the attachment. The attachments are named accordingly, i.e. letter title, type of form, encounter notes’ presenting issue. To add another document, click+ Add Attachment and attach a file from the patient chart or upload it from your computer.
Status	Select the appropriate status.
Priority	The priority is Medium by default. To change it, click it and select one from the list.
Patient Data Referral Data	If customised in your referral settings, click a blue data field to update patient data and referral data directly from the referral. Refer to Updating patient and referral data from a referral.
Comments	If required, type additional comments and click Leave Comment. These comments are internal and are not sent as part of the referral to the service provider.

3. Click Save.

The referral is saved in the Referrals section of the patient chart and in the Referrals dashboard under Outgoing. Refer to Viewing patient referrals and Searching for and filtering referrals.

4. Open the referral and click,

Message to send the referral as an internal message within your clinic. For example to your admin staff to add the appropriate service provider, or

Send Out to send the referral to the service provider.
A PDF of the referral is generated and appears in a window. From here, you can download a copy of the PDF to your computer, change the PDF settings, and print, email, or fax the prescription.

Updated December 15, 2023