Back Office
Get a faxed referral onto the chart and into the schedule
A faxed referral lands on the chart, gets assigned and acknowledged, and is booked once your team accepts it.
- On the chart
- Digitized rather than keyed in by hand
- Same day
- Logged and acknowledged inside the window
- Then booked
- Acceptance hands straight to outbound
What Changes
How it goes today, entirely by hand
- The fax arrives and somebody keys it into the EMR, field by field.
- A referral is created, the referring physician is found or made from scratch, and it is assigned by hand.
- A confirmation letter goes back by fax, typed and sent by a person.
- Once accepted, somebody still has to phone the patient to book them.
How it goes once this ships
- The fax is digitized onto the patient chart instead of transcribed from paper.
- The referral record is created and assigned to the right physician automatically.
- It is logged and acknowledged the day it lands, not the day somebody reaches it.
- Acceptance triggers the call, so a decision becomes a booked appointment without a handoff.
Step By Step
Receipt confirmed by fax
Referring provider
A referral arrives by fax
From a family physician or another practice, in whatever format their office sends.
Joud Health
Digitized and filed to the chart
The document is read and uploaded against the patient record, so it is on the chart from the start rather than sitting in a tray waiting to be typed up.
referral.pdf · on chartJoud Health
A referral is created
With the reason and the referring physician attached. That field is distinct from the family physician, and one who is not on file yet is surfaced for a new record rather than quietly dropped.
Joud Health
Assigned to the physician
Routed to the specialist it is meant for, so it lands in the right place instead of a shared pile somebody sorts later.
Joud Health
Logged as received, and acknowledged
Recorded the day it arrives, inside the window practices are held to. The confirmation goes back to the referring office by fax, without anyone typing a letter.
ReceivedYour team
Your team accepts it
This step stays with people, and should. Most practices let the care team accept in bulk once referrals are assigned; some physicians review every one themselves. That is set per physician, and nothing is accepted without someone deciding.
Joud Health
Acceptance books the patient
The accept is what triggers the outbound agent. It calls the patient, offers times that fit the referral, and books them. A decision becomes an appointment without anyone carrying it across.
What It Hands Off To
A point solution finishes its own job and stops. These workflows run on one platform and one EMR connection, so the end of one is the start of the next.
- Referrals
The outbound call this triggers is that workflow. This page closes the receipt loop; that one closes the outcome loop once the patient has been seen.
- Specialist
A net-new specialist consult cannot be booked until the referral has cleared acceptance, so the gate and the assignment rules are the same ones.
- Waitlist
A referred patient waiting on a first appointment can take a slot freed by a cancellation rather than waiting for the next routine opening.
How It Is Set Up
- Digitization
- Read from the fax and filed to the patient chart
- Referral record
- Created with the reason and referring physician
- Referring physician
- Set on the chart, distinct from the family physician
- Assignment
- Routed to the specialist it is intended for
- Acknowledgement
- Receipt faxed back the day it arrives
- Acceptance
- Stays a human decision, configurable per physician
- Booking
- Triggered by acceptance, placed by the outbound agent
- Availability
- In development
Questions
Does it accept referrals on its own?
No. It digitizes, creates, assigns, logs and acknowledges. Whether to accept is a clinical decision, and practices differ on who makes it: most let the care team accept in bulk once referrals are assigned, while some physicians review every one personally. That is configured per physician rather than assumed.
What actually happens the moment a referral is accepted?
The accept is the trigger. It hands to the outbound agent, which calls the patient, offers times that fit what the referral is for, and books them. The gap this closes is the one between a physician deciding yes and somebody finding the time to phone.
Can a patient book before the referral is accepted?
Not for a net-new consult. That is a hard rule and it is enforced rather than left to whoever answers the phone. Exactly which point in your referral status counts as clear enough to book is set per practice, because clinics run that differently.
What about a patient who already has a referral on file?
A follow-up can only cover the reason the original referral was for. Anything outside that needs a fresh referral from the family physician, and the platform treats it that way rather than reusing an old one to get a booking through.
When does this ship?
It is in development. Referrals reaching your practice by other routes are already worked today, and the fax path will feed the same booking and loop closure once it is live rather than being a separate system bolted on.
More Care. Less Admin.
All of it, on one platform
JOUD Health works quietly in the background so your team is free to focus on what matters: patient care.
Request a demo