The doctor referral etiquette guide

So much of our business life is about building relationships with others and gaining their trust. It takes a long time to do but only a moment to break. Being known for always doing the best job you can and being the person with impeccable manners will ensure you get even more referrals.

Physician referral etiquette has deteriorated. The reasons are many.

1. Since most work as employed physicians, they think that the information they enter in the EMR is good enough
2. They have little or no relationship to the person who sent them a patient at an outlying facility owned by the corporation
3. They are "too busy" to send referral information, consultation reports or just a plain thank you note
4. Dropped handoffs and referral leaks are pervasive and "the system" stakeholders don't measure and manage them
5. Referring and consulting doctors are not held accountable
6. They don't get paid to do it
7. Building a referral base is not important to them because they think other doctors who work at the same places will just refer them patients
8. They are not trained to do it properly
9. There are few incentives to change their behavior
10. The lack of data interoperability makes it harder and further interferes with workflow
11. Technology replacing people as the accepted norm for connecting
12. A general lack of civility

Too often, actions and decisions affecting patient care are determined by expediency, cost-effectiveness, and time constraints. At risk of sacrifice are ethics and professionalism, pillars essential to the very structure of medical practice. There appears to be an erosion of consultation etiquette-exchanges between physicians and patients as well as among physicians. While methods to maximize efficiency are essential to medical practice, they should not come at the expense of etiquette. To improve patient care and strengthen relationships between patients and physicians, as well as relationships between referring and consulting physicians, here is a set of guidelines for improving consultation etiquette.

Here's what Dear Abby might recommend about physician referral and consultation etiquette.

If you don't know how to write a referral note, maybe ChatGPT can help. Or you can visit the Museum of Physician Happiness to see a sample

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs