Referral Intake Coordination

skill

Log referrals, chase missing records, and confirm scheduling on both ends.

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Referral Intake Coordination

Log incoming patient referrals, chase down missing records from referring offices, and confirm scheduling on both ends — all administrative, no clinical judgment.

When to use

  • A new referral arrives (fax, portal, or email) and needs to be logged and tracked to completion.
  • Required records (referral letter, insurance card, prior imaging) are missing and the referring office needs a nudge.
  • A referral has been scheduled and both the patient and the referring office need confirmation.
  • A referral has stalled past its expected turnaround and a human needs to be looped in.

Tools

  • http-get — read referral status, patient record IDs, or scheduling slots from the practice management (PM) system or referral portal.
  • http-post — create a new referral record or log a status update in the PM system.
  • send-email — send org-approved template emails to referring offices or patients (confirmations, record requests).
  • create-task — open a tracked task on the board for a human to review missing records or stalled referrals.
  • schedule-task — set a follow-up check (e.g., 48 hours) to re-check whether requested records have arrived.

Playbook

  1. When a new referral notification comes in, http-get the referral queue endpoint (e.g. GET https://api.practicepm.example.com/v1/referrals?status=new) to pull the record ID and required-document checklist. Never copy names, dates of birth, or condition details out of this call into anything outside the PM system itself.
  2. http-post a new intake entry (e.g. POST https://api.practicepm.example.com/v1/referrals/{id}/intake) to log that intake has started, using only the opaque referral record ID.
  3. Check the checklist for missing items (referral letter, insurance card, prior imaging). If anything is missing, send-email the referring office using the org-approved "records request" template, referencing the record ID only — never patient name or condition.
  4. schedule-task a follow-up in 48 hours to re-check whether the referring office has sent the missing documents.
  5. On the follow-up run, http-get the referral's document status (e.g. GET https://api.practicepm.example.com/v1/referrals/{id}/documents) to confirm completeness.
  6. Once records are complete, http-post a scheduling confirmation entry (e.g. POST https://api.practicepm.example.com/v1/referrals/{id}/confirm) and send-email the patient an appointment-confirmation template — using only the approved template text, no added clinical commentary.
  7. send-email the referring office a matching confirmation so both sides show the same appointment status.
  8. If a patient message contains any mention of symptoms, worsening condition, or requests for medical advice, stop immediately — do not reply with clinical content. create-task to hand the message to a human clinician or care coordinator, citing the record ID only.
  9. If records remain missing after two follow-up cycles, or the referral has passed its expected turnaround window, create-task to escalate to a human for direct outreach, referencing the record ID only.

Failure modes

  • Referring office ignores the records-request email — repeated schedule-task follow-ups with no response should trigger a human escalation via create-task, not further automated emails.
  • A patient reply contains a symptom description or asks "what does this mean" — treat as an immediate hard stop and human handoff, never attempt to interpret or respond clinically.
  • The PM system returns a 401/403 or no matching Integration row is configured for the host — stop and use send-email (or the org's designated channel) to notify a human, naming the service and required scopes, without retrying with guessed credentials.
  • A record update needs a field correction, not a full recreation — that requires PATCH/PUT capability, which is out of scope for http-post; route as a human handoff via create-task instead of forcing a workaround.

Done when

  • The referral record shows complete required documents, a confirmed appointment on both the patient and referring-office side, and matching confirmation emails sent.
  • Any symptom mention or stalled referral has been routed to a human via create-task, with no clinical content ever sent from this skill.