Specialty referrals...how do you choose?

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Permalink Reply by Helen H Cohen on July 16, 2009 at 2:05pm

From an Office Manager's perspective & the wife of a retired GP:

When we referred to specialists for dental treatment needs we first and foremost chose those specialists that we felt treated our patients well and gave quality care to them. As whomever you refer to, keep mindful that it is a direct reflection on you as their primary dentist who you entrust your patients care to. When a patient was referred out & we knew when the appointment took place, we chose to have our dental assistant call them afterwards to see how things went for them. Follow up contacts will give you immediate feedback how the patient was serviced. From that we were able to see consistency in good care - we then established a referral list. We chose to have two-three specialists per specialty that we referred to over and over again.

Therefore, your question : "Are you referring to the specialists that deliver the same level of care you do, the same goals in patient care, the same educational focus, the same individualized care?" was right on target with our office philosophy.

Another option for you to decide which ones to choose- if you have time to do this - I would suggest you personally go visit their offices and see what you think. Being treated to lunch with a specialist is fine to get to know them personally but you can gain alot form seeing their office and getting a feel for what your patients are subjected to.
Ask:
to take a tour, how they interact with the patient, what about level of care, about how they handle financing treatment, follow-up calls to see how patient is doing, send you follow up letter of what occurred for treatment & patient concerns.

Our staff never made these important decisions as it was the GP's responsibility. Our staff did assist in setting up the appointments before they left our office as an extra showing of our concern for their dental health.

Hope this stimulates your thinking.

For more information, please feel free to visit my website/or contact me @ www.e3coaching.net

Enlighten - Empower - Evolve,

Helen

Permalink Reply by Cary Feuerman, DMD on July 18, 2009 at 8:31am

Hi Rachel,

You have posed excellent questions. And, I applaud Helen's response and thoughtful approach. As a full time practicing periodontist for over 20 years, I truly believe that my success is directly related to our constant striving to provide the highest quality of care, in a comprehensive, team-oriented treatment approach. Our restorative colleagues continue to support us because they see that we can deliver the surgical outcomes that they have come to expect, and we support them. This is critical because the GP must be discerning when evaluating treatment results from their specialists. Communication, as well as the overall in-office patient experience, are also critically important factors in sustaining a mutually beneficial relationship between the GP and specialist. In our case, we also lecture and sponsor a CE accredited study club which is open to our restorative colleagues and their staff members, so our treatment results are "out there" for everyone to see. Over the years, I have developed close relationships with most of our referring colleagues. Yet, at the end of the day, I believe it is the quality of care, comprehensive treatment approach, and the "total patient experience" that "drives" the referral.

Great questions!!