The referral has arrived. Who owns the next step?
A referral arriving is the start of a process, not a completed intake. Someone must check the details, identify what is missing and decide when the patient can move to the next step. For an independent clinic, making that work visible is a useful starting point for improvement.
1. Give every registration a clear status
Define what each intake stage means in your clinic. “Received”, “awaiting information”, “ready for review” and “ready for planning” should reflect different situations. A status is useful only when staff know what must happen before it changes. Keep administrative completeness separate from clinical suitability.
2. Make missing information actionable
A note saying “incomplete” leaves the next person to investigate again. Record exactly which information is missing, who will follow it up and when it should be reviewed. Your clinic should define the required checks for each pathway, including identity, consent and the information a professional needs to assess the referral.
3. Keep professional review explicit
Receiving a document does not establish that the identity is verified, consent is recorded or the referral is clinically appropriate. Keep those checks visible and assign decisions to the responsible professional. Administrative software can organise the work; a checklist must not silently become a clinical decision.
4. Match automation to the task
Fixed rules suit stage checks, due dates and reminders. AI may help interpret text or draft a summary when the connection, data-processing arrangements and review process are in place. Neither should be presented as a completed integration before it has been configured and tested. A reliable workflow also needs a visible route for exceptions.
What PRIS Care supports today
The current platform supports patient and referral registration, intake stages, specialist assignment, internal appointments with overlap checks, rule-based checklists and internal notices. The ZorgDomein module includes connection settings, separate test and production inboxes and reviewed linking to existing patients. Live ZorgDomein receiving still requires an approved connection and a successful test. Live AI, document scanning and the prerequisites for real-patient use also require activation or validation. Automatic document extraction, patient messaging, EHR synchronisation are not currently available. Clinic owners can invite colleagues to their workspace.
Measure the work before promising the saving
For a small set of cases, record active administrative minutes, the number of follow-up contacts, missing-information cases and elapsed time until the intake is ready for review. Measure review and correction time as well as data entry. Compare the same definitions during a pilot; faster processing is only useful if information remains accurate and the right professional retains control.
Start with one pathway that your clinic already understands. A demo with fictional patients can make the remaining manual work visible before you agree on a pilot.
See the intake workflow in a demo