Referral

About: Referral is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 27614 publications have been published within this topic receiving 479918 citations.

Interventions to improve outpatient referrals from primary care to secondary care.

Abstract: Background The primary care specialist interface is a key organisational feature of many health care systems. Patients are referred to specialist care when investigation or therapeutic options are exhausted in primary care and more specialised care is needed. Referral has considerable implications for patients, the health care system and health care costs. There is considerable evidence that the referral processes can be improved.

A Randomized Trial of Medical Care Management for Community Mental Health Settings: The Primary Care Access, Referral, and Evaluation (PCARE) Study

Abstract: Objective: Poor quality of healthcare contributes to impaired health and excess mortality in individuals with severe mental disorders. The authors tested a population-based medical care management intervention designed to improve primary medical care in community mental health settings. Method: A total of 407 subjects with severe mental illness at an urban community mental health center were randomly assigned to either the medical care management intervention or usual care. For individuals in the intervention group, care managers provided communication and advocacy with medical providers, health education, and support in overcoming system-level fragmentation and barriers to primary medical care. Results: At a 12-month follow-up evaluation, the intervention group received an average of 58.7% of recommended preventive services compared with a rate of 21.8% in the usual care group. They also received a significantly higher proportion of evidence-based services for cardiometabolic conditions (34.9% versus 27.7%) and were more likely to have a primary care provider (71.2% versus 51.9%). The intervention group showed significant improvement on the SF-36 mental component summary (8.0% [versus a 1.1% decline in the usual care group]) and a nonsignificant improvement on the SF36 physical component summary. Among subjects with available laboratory data, scores on the Framingham Cardiovascular Risk Index were significantly better in the intervention group (6.9%) than the usual care group (9.8%). Conclusions: M edical care management was associated with significant improve ments in the quality and outcomes of primary care. These findings suggest that care management is a promising approach for improving medical care for patients treated in community mental health settings.

Systematic review of the problems and issues of accessing specialist palliative care by patients, carers and health and social care professionals.

Abstract: To determine the problems and issues of accessing specialist palliative care by patients, informal carers and health and social care professionals involved in their care in primary and secondary care settings. Data sources: Eleven electronic databases (medical, health-related and social science) were searched from the beginning of 1997 to October 2003. Palliative Medicine (January 1997–October 2003) was also hand-searched. Study selection: Systematic search for studies, reports and policy papers written in English. Data extraction: Included papers were data-extracted and the quality of each included study was assessed using 10 questions on a 40-point scale. Results: The search resulted in 9921 hits. Two hundred and seven papers were directly concerned with symptoms or issues of access, referral or barriers and obstacles to receiving palliative care. Only 40 (19%) papers met the inclusion criteria. Several barriers to access and referral to palliative care were identified including lack of knowledge and education amongst health and social care professionals, and a lack of standardized referral criteria. Some groups of people failed to receive timely referrals e.g., those from minority ethnic communities, older people and patients with nonmalignant conditions as well as people that are socially excluded e.g., homeless people. Conclusions: There is a need to improve education and knowledge about specialist palliative care and hospice care amongst health and social care professionals, patients and carers. Standardized referral criteria need to be developed. Further work is also needed to assess the needs of those not currently accessing palliative care services.

A Penny for Your Thoughts: Referral Reward Programs and Referral Likelihood:

Abstract: Because referral reward programs reward existing customers and build the customer base, firms use them to encourage customers to make recommendations to others The authors report on four experiments in which they find that rewards increase referral likelihood More specifically, they find that rewards are particularly effective in increasing referral to weak ties and for weaker brands It is also important who receives the reward Overall, for weak ties and weaker brands, giving a reward to the provider of the recommendation is important For strong ties and stronger brands, providing at least some of the reward to the receiver of the referral seems to be more effective The authors discuss the implications of the results for the design of reward programs

Disparities in the utilization of high-volume hospitals for complex surgery. Commentary

Abstract: Context Referral to high-volume hospitals has been recommended for operations with a demonstrated volume-outcome relationship. The characteristics of patients who receive care at low-volume hospitals may be different from those of patients who receive care at high-volume hospitals. These differences may limit their ability to access or receive care at a high-volume hospital. Objective To identify patient characteristics associated with the use of high-volume hospitals, using California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development patient discharge database. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective study of Californians receiving the following inpatient operations from 2000 through 2004: elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, coronary artery bypass grafting, carotid endarterectomy, esophageal cancer resection, hip fracture repair, lung cancer resection, cardiac valve replacement, coronary angioplasty, pancreatic cancer resection, and total knee replacement. Main Outcome Measures Patient race/ethnicity and insurance status in high-volume (highest 20% of patients by mean annual volume) and in low-volume (lowest 20%) hospitals. Results A total of 719608 patients received 1 of the 10 operations. Overall, non-whites, Medicaid patients, and uninsured patients were less likely to receive care at high-volume hospitals and more likely to receive care at low-volume hospitals when controlling for other patient-level characteristics. Blacks were significantly (P<.05) less likely than whites to receive care at high-volume hospitals for 6 of the 10 operations (relative risk [RR] range, 0.40-0.72), while Asians and Hispanics were significantly less likely to receive care at high-volume hospitals for 5 (RR range, 0.60-0.91) and 9 (RR range, 0.46-0.88), respectively. Medicaid patients were significantly less likely than Medicare patients to receive care at high-volume hospitals for 7 of the operations (RR range, 0.22-0.66), while uninsured patients were less likely to be treated at high-volume hospitals for 9 (RR range, 0.20-0.81). Conclusions There are substantial disparities in the characteristics of patients receiving care at high-volume hospitals. The interest in selective referral to high-volume hospitals should include explicit efforts to identify the patient and system factors required to reduce current inequities regarding their use.